


Sakura The Jinchuuriki

by MuraMuraMonMonMon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, Jinchuuriki!Sakura, Red-Haired Uzumaki Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 48,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23788192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuraMuraMonMonMon/pseuds/MuraMuraMonMonMon
Summary: A re-telling of Part I in which the Nine-Tails was sealed within Sakura instead of Naruto.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 100





	1. Chapter 1

_Twelve years ago, a powerful demon fox with nine tails appeared. With its immense power, the tailed beast was able to smash mountains and create tidal waves. The ninja of the Leaf Village fought back to defend their homes, with one man known as the Fourth Hokage, the leader and most powerful shinobi of the village, spearheading the assault against it. Many lives were lost that night, including his own, but the Hokage was successful in saving the village by sealing the nine-tailed fox within the body of a newborn child, a little girl named Sakura Haruno._

* * *

A girl wearing a red qipao dress, dark green shorts and a red ribbon keeping her hair away from her face was hanging from a rope in front of the giant stone face of the First Hokage, holding a bucket on one hand and a brush on the other, humming a song while dipping the brush in the bucket.

“Hey, you!” A voice called from below.

Looking down, the girl with shoulder-length pink hair spotted a group of Leaf Village shinobi wearing flak jackets looking up at her from the roof of the Hokage Residence located right below the Hokage Rock.

“What are you doing up there?”

“You’re supposed to be in school!”

“Good morning!” The girl cheerfully greeted while waving at the shinobi. “I’m just giving the faces a good cleaning. Nobody else seems interested, so may as well do it myself, right?” She reached into the bucket and retrieved the cleaning brush dripping with soapy water. “So if you’ll excuse me, I’m almost done with the First’s.”

“What’s going on up here?” An elderly man wearing red and white robes, a red hat with the _fire_ kanji written on it and holding a smoking pipe asked as he approached the group.

“Don’t worry, Hokage-sama, I’ll handle this.” A shinobi with a scar across his nose said before shouting: “SAKURA HARUNO, GET DOWN FROM THERE THIS INSTANT!”

Startled, Sakura dropped the bucket and brush she was holding; the bucket fell on the roof of the Hokage Residence, splashing the men gathered there with soapy water and extinguishing the Hokage’s pipe.

“Aw geez.” She said while rubbing the back of her neck. “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”

“Very much so, young lady!”

“Oh, well. In that case, there’s no point in coming along quietly!” Sakura dashed away in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only the rope she was previously hanging from swinging in the wind. With the exception of the Hokage, all the shinobi gave chase – the elderly man simply sighed as he plucked the pipe from his mouth.

Jumping from roof to roof, the Leaf ninja chased after the truant. She performed a few hand seals mid-chase and quickly ducked into an alley, hiding from her chasers while they ran after the clone she had just created. Sighing in relief and wiping the sweat off her brow, she confidently sauntered into the streets with a smile on her face.

Sakura yelped in surprise when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Turning her head, she found herself face to face with her scarred-nose shinobi.

“How did you know that wasn’t the real me, Iruka-sensei?”

“I’m the one asking the questions here. Why aren’t you in class?”

“Because there’s nothing left for me to learn there.” She explained. “I already read all the books and scrolls, I know everything we’re being taught, so instead of sitting around doing nothing and being bored all day I’d rather go outside and actually do something.”

“Attendance is important too. Too many absences and you’ll be held back. Is that what you want? To see all your friends graduate while you stay in the academy because you couldn’t be bothered to show up?”

“I have the best grades in class and all my test scores are perfect, why do I need to have perfect attendance on top of that? Shouldn’t my accomplishments be a testament to my intellect?”

“Being a shinobi of the Leaf Village is more than just grades on a paper, Sakura. Come on, if we go now we’ll make it in time for next class.”

The two of them silently walked side by side back to the academy, but Iruka kept a firm grip Sakura’s shoulder to make sure she wouldn’t run again.

“How are you feeling about tomorrow’s graduation exam?” Iruka-sensei asked in an attempt to make small talk.

“What’s there to feel? I’m gonna ace it like I did every exam before that.”

“You mean the ones you didn’t miss.”

“I just want something more challenging, something on my level that won’t bore me to tears. But no, I have to study the same basic stuff as everybody else because I don’t have a clan that can teach me their secret techniques or a family to hire me a private tutor. Who can I even ask for help? Everybody in the village seems to hate me for no reason…”

Upon noticing her saddened expression, Iruka gently squeezed Sakura’s shoulder.

“Let’s make a deal, Sakura: if you go to class today and promise not to miss the exam tomorrow, I’ll treat you to some anmitsu later. What do you say?”

Sakura’s face lit up immediately.

“You mean it?!”

“You promise?”

“Yes, I promise! Now let’s go, we’re burning daylight!” Sakura grabbed her teacher’s wrist and ran towards the academy, dragging him along.

* * *

Later that afternoon, at the dango shop, Sakura and Iruka sat at a table across from each other, each holding a bowl containing red bean paste, agar jelly, pieces of fruit and syrup.

“I’ve been teaching at the academy for a few years now, and I’ve seen students skipping class for all sorts of reasons, mostly to hang out with friends and cause trouble.” Iruka said. “You’re the first student I’ve had who skipped class to clean up the Hokage Rock. Why is that?”

“Because I respect the Hokage. All of them.” Sakura explained. “They did many great things in the past for the good of the village, we owe them everything we have – the Fourth even sacrificed himself to save us from the giant demon fox that attacked us all those years ago. The least I could do to show my gratitude was give the monument dedicated to them a good scrub.”

“I see…”

After chatting for some time and paying for the anmitsu they ate, Iruka-sensei and Sakura said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. The pink-haired girl went back to the roof of the Hokage Residence and leaned against the railing, looking up at the carved faces of the Third Hokage’s predecessors and his deceased successor, a man with large sideburns and a mustache with hair styled into five spikes that made his head resemble a star – with the exception of the First, they all still looked a little dirty due to the interruption from earlier.

Sakura heard footsteps approaching from behind and turned around to see a man in a flak jacket with grayish blue neck-length hair.

“Mizuki-sensei.” The girl greeted her academy teacher. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you.” He said as he leaned against the railing beside her. “Iruka-sensei and I have been talking about you.”

“Why?”

“Because we agree with you. You’re too good to stick to the same study materials as the students who are nowhere as gifted as you, and it’s unfair that you don’t have anyone who can provide you a more advanced education. So we’ve been talking to the Hokage and came up with a special exam, just for you.”

Sakura’s interest was immediately piqued. “You mean it?”

“I do. If you pass, you’ll be granted access to chunin-level education, maybe even jonin, depending on your performance. Are you interested?”

“Am I! What do I have to do?”

“We want to see if you're capable of gathering and stealing information. Now follow me, I’ll explain how it’s going to work before the exam officially starts.”

* * *

“Iruka-sensei, wake up!” Mizuki-sensei called as he frantically banged on his colleague’s front door. It didn’t take long for him to get out of bed and open the door.

“What’s going on?” Iruka asked.

“It’s an emergency, we’re needed at the Hokage-sama’s residence immediately. Sakura stole the Scroll of Seals.”

“S-Sakura did what?!”

Iruka dressed himself in record time, and together the two chunin ran towards the Hokage Residence, where other shinobi of the Leaf Village had already gathered.

“What the hell was that girl thinking?” One of them angrily asked.

“Skipping class is one thing, but she went too far this time!”

“Breaking into the Hokage Residence and stealing the Scroll of Seals is a serious offence.”

“If word of this gets out, not only will she be made a target by foreign villages, but if they get their hands on that scroll…”

“Sakura, why?” Iruka mumbled to himself.

“Find her and bring her back here with that scroll immediately.” The Third Hokage ordered and all the Leaf Village ninja scattered.

Mizuki didn’t waste any time and ran straight to the abandoned cabin in the forest where he instructed Sakura to take the Scroll of Seals after retrieving it from the Hokage Residence. When he got there, he found her just outside the old building, sitting on the grass and reading the scroll.

“Mizuki-sensei!” Sakura stood up once she spotted him and ran towards her teacher. “You got here faster than I expected, I only had time to learn one jutsu.”

“You already learned a jutsu? That’s incredible, Sakura.” Mizuki said, placing his hand on her head and stroking her hair, causing her smile to grow even bigger. “It would take more experienced ninja much longer to learn one jutsu from the Scroll of Seals, you truly are one gifted little kunoichi. Unfortunately…” Mizuki grabbed Sakura’s hair and pulled her forward. With his free hand he retrieved a kunai from his pouch and stabbed it deep in her abdomen. “…that scroll is not for you.”

The academy teacher tossed the girl aside, who went limp like a cloth doll, before walking towards the Scroll of Seals where he rolled it up before picking it up by the cloth strap and slinging it over his shoulder.

“M-Mi… zuki… sen... sei…” Mizuki turned his head and saw Sakura standing up on wobbly legs, clutching the kunai stabbed into her stomach with a dark red spot forming around it. “W-Why…?”

“Still alive, huh?” Reaching into his pouch one more time, her teacher retrieved a second kunai. “That’s easily fixed.”

Aiming for the student’s head, Mizuki threw the kunai. Before reaching its target, however, a sound of metal colliding with metal echoed throughout the clearing and the kunai fell harmlessly on the grass with the shuriken that had been used to deflect it. The man who threw the shuriken showed himself by standing protectively between Sakura and Mizuki.

“Iruka.” He grumbled. “How did you know?”

“You weren’t looking for Sakura like the rest of us, you just ran off like you knew exactly where you were going. I had a gut feeling and decided to follow you.” He gave his wounded student a sideways glance. “Good thing I did, too.”

“You’re too late, Iruka. The scroll is already in my possession. I just need to get rid of that demon fox – and you too, I suppose.”

“Demon… fox?” Sakura asked.

“Don’t listen to him, Sakura!”

Mizuki laughed. “Oh, what’s the harm, Iruka? The girl is already at death’s door, she should at least know the truth before dying.”

“The… truth?”

“Mizuki, she’s not ready!”

“You know about the incident from twelve years ago, right? The village was attacked by a nine-tailed fox and the Fourth Hokage gave his life to seal it away. But have you ever asked yourself where he sealed it?”

“Stop it, Mizuki!”

“After that incident, a law was created to hide the truth – more specifically, to hide the truth from you: no person with knowledge of what happened that night is allowed to reveal, discuss or even mention that, but the truth is, the nine-tailed fox was sealed” Mizuki lifted a finger and pointed it at Sakura “within you, Sakura Haruno.”

Sakura’s eyes widened.

“That’s right! The demon fox that nearly destroyed the village 12 years ago is resting inside you. That’s why the adults of the village despise you and tell their children to avoid you; you are carrying that monster. You **are** that monster!”

“MIZUKI!”

“Demon fox…” Sakura muttered, looking down at the blood dripping on the grass with wide eyes. “Demon… fox…”

“You’ve been deceived all this time. Even the Hokage you respect so much has been lying to you for years.”

“It was to protect you, Sakura!” Iruka explained. “The Hokage was going to tell you the truth once you grew older!”

“Demon… Fox… Fox… Fox… Kitsu-nii…”

An explosion of chakra coming from Sakura’s body caused a strong gust of wind, startling both Iruka and Mizuki, who raised their arms to shield their eyes from leaves and twigs. A whirlpool of red chakra formed itself around Sakura.

“No. No! Sakura!” Iruka called.

With little to no effort, the pink-haired girl removed the kunai from her abdomen, leaving behind a wound that sealed itself almost instantly. Dropping the weapon to the ground, she raised her head, revealing that her aquamarine eyes had become red, her pupils had turned into slits and her canine teeth had grown into fangs. Quick as a flash, she ran past Iruka-sensei and towards Mizuki. She formed a cross with her hands using both index and middle fingers.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!” She angrily recited before two different Sakuras materialized themselves from a cloud of smoke, flanking the original. “MIZUKI-SENSEEEEEI!”

The light-haired chunin tried throwing more weapons at them, but they were easily dodged as she got closer. Mizuki tried to turn around and run, but Sakura was faster than him; she grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him, allowing her two Shadow Clones to punch him in the face at the same time and send him flying in one direction while the Scroll of Seals flew in another.

Mizuki stood back up, but the clones immediately grabbed his arms, restraining his movement and preventing him from escaping.

“MIZUKI-SENSEEEEEI!” She yelled before punching him in the face. But that wasn’t enough and she punched him again with the other fist. She kept on punching him even after he had already lost consciousness, blood dripping from his nose and mouth and staining her fists.

“Sakura, that’s enough!” Iruka ordered. The young girl halted her assault and turned around to face her teacher. “You already punished him enough, the village will take it from here. You need to calm down and come back to your senses. Don’t give in and let the fox take control of you. It’s true that the demon fox is sealed in you, but don’t believe for a second what Mizuki said, you are not a demon!”

“Iruka… sensei…” Sakura’s red eyes turned back to normal and her clones disappeared into clouds of smoke, dropping the unconscious Mizuki to the ground. Sakura herself lost consciousness as well, but Iruka managed to hold her before she fell.

* * *

“I don’t remember anything.” Sakura, sitting in the Hokage’s office across from the village’s leader, explained. “After Mizuki-sensei told me about the seal, I just blacked out and woke up in the hospital with Iruka-sensei by my side.”

“Are you sure you don’t remember anything else?” Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, asked. Sakura nodded. “Very well. You’re free to go.”

“Am… Am I in trouble?”

The Hokage took a drag off his pipe and blew a cloud of smoke toward the window behind him. The delay in his answer made Sakura even more anxious.

“No, you’re not in trouble. It’s clear that Mizuki was using you and you only stole the Scroll of Seals because he tricked you into doing it for him. We won’t hold you responsible for that.”

Sakura quickly stood up and bowed. “Th-Thank you, Hokage-sama!”

“Go along, now.” He smiled. “You have a graduation exam to ace, don’t you?”

“R-Right! I’m going!” Sakura left the office in less than a second and ran back to the academy as quickly as a student of the Leaf Village could.

Two clouds of smoke appeared on both sides of the Hokage, revealing two men wearing gray vests and animal masks once they dissipated.

“Leave her be for now.” The Hokage instructed his bodyguards. “It’s clear that the fox’s influence did no more than give her a short-lived boost that left her exhausted. For now, there is no danger.” Sarutobi closed his eyes, deep in thought for a few moments before opening them again. “But it would be unwise to leave her in the care of a jonin who is unprepared to deal with a worst-case scenario. Once classes are over, bring me Iruka Umino and Kakashi Hatake.”

With a nod, his bodyguards vanished into thin air.

* * *

“Well well, look who decided to show up two days in a row.” The blue-eyed blonde girl wearing purple clothes and bandages around her thighs and midriff commented as Sakura sat next to her.

“Iruka-sensei made me promise before buying me anmitsu.” Sakura replied.

“Oh ho ho! You went on a date with Iruka-sensei? Is my little Sakura-chan finally showing an interest in the opposite sex?”

“For real?” A male voice asked, butting in on their private conversation. “Damn, I knew I’d have competition one day, but our sensei? I need to up my game!”

Sakura simply rolled her eyes. She didn’t need to look at him to know that the voice belonged to her classmate with straight red hair and blue eyes who favored the colors black and orange when dressing in the morning. “Good morning, Uzumaki. And it wasn’t a date, Iruka-sensei was just being nice.”

“I know, I know, I was just joking.” The red-haired Uzumaki boy sat beside her, to the utter joy of Ino Yamanaka, who had hearts in her eyes. “There’s no need to be so formal, you can call me Naruto.”

“Good morning, Naruto-kun!” Ino greeted. Naruto flashed her a smile that took her breath away and made her swoon.

Sakura rolled her eyes again. One look around the class revealed that many of their female classmates had a similar reaction, despite his smile not being directed at them. The only girls who didn’t seem to be affected by it were the ones that were too busy swooning over the other heartthrob in the classroom, the dark-haired Uchiha boy who spent most of his free time brooding, giving him a mysterious aura that attracted them. Upon noticing where Sakura’s attention was focused, Naruto huffed.

“What’s so special about him?” He asked. “His charisma is below zero and he doesn’t interact with anybody except when the lesson demands him to.”

Sakura shook her head and shrugged. “Beats me. You like him, don’t you, Ino? What makes him special?”

But the Yamanaka girl had long since lost interest in the conversation, choosing to fawn over Sasuke Uchiha as well. Naruto regained her attention by flashing her another smile, but this time paired with a wink – Ino nearly fainted.

“Tell me, Sakura-chan: if Sasuke and I were the last men on the planet, who would you date? I mean, the answer is obvious, but I still want to hear you say it!”

Sakura glared at him. “I’d rather let the human species go extinct than date either. You’re an egotistical nuisance who’s too dense to understand I’m not interested in you even when I scream it in your face, and he’s some upper class douchebag who thinks he’s too cool to associate with us lowly peasants and prefers to just stare at nothing by himself. Frankly I don’t know why Ino and the others like either of you.”

“Brrr, so cold.” Naruto smiled. “But I’ll melt that icy heart of yours one day, believe it!”

The classroom door opened and Iruka-sensei walked right in, accompanied by another chunin – most likely Mizuki’s replacement – carrying a box.

“Thank god…” Sakura muttered.

“Good morning class. Sorry for the delay.” Iruka greeted. “Today’s the day you’ve all been waiting for, your graduation exam.” His smile grew wider when he spotted Sakura among the students, happy that she kept her promise. The chunin placed the box on the teacher’s desk, retrieving several Leaf Village headbands from within it. “First of all, I just wanted to say how proud I am of all of you for making it here. Now, once your name is called, please come to the front of the class and perform a Clone Jutsu. First, Naruto Uzumaki.”

The red-haired boy stood up and walked to the front of the class full of confidence.

“You can do it, Naruto-kun!” A girl cheered him on.

“Show them how it’s done!”

“You’re the best, Naruto-kun!”

Standing in front of Iruka-sensei, Naruto turned around to face the class and made a hand seal.

“Clone Jutsu!”

A second Naruto, identical to the first, appeared right next to the original. Mirroring each other’s movement, both Narutos winked and smiled while giving their classmates a thumbs up. The girls screamed of joy, to the displeasure of the boys who had to cover their ears.

“Very good, very good.” Iruka praised him before handing him a headband. “Congratulations Naruto, you passed.”

“Sweet!” Naruto took the headband and tied it around his forehead. His female classmates cheered one more time before he returned to his seat.

“Sasuke Uchiha, your turn.”

The girls cheered him on just as much as they did Naruto, but Sasuke didn’t react to it at all. He didn’t even bother to face the class before summoning two clones of himself and simply accepted the headband Iruka handed to him before quietly returning to his seat.

“Sakura Haruno.”

The liveliness of the classroom went away immediately, with only murmurs being heard. Unbothered by it, Sakura made her way to the front of the class, took a deep breath and made the same hand seal she did the night prior.

“What’s that seal?” One of the students asked, noticing that it wasn’t the same one used for the Clone Jutsu.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Sakura shouted, and the entire classroom was engulfed in a giant cloud of white smoke. Once the smoke dissipated, it was revealed that countless Sakuras had crowded the room, to everybody’s shock and surprise and to Naruto’s joy.

“A room full of Sakura-chans? This must be what heaven looks like!”

All Sakura clones rolled their eyes and groaned before vanishing, leaving only the original in the exact same spot she was before. Iruka laughed.

“Those aren’t simple illusions, your clones are actually tangible! Nicely done, Sakura, nicely done. Congratulations, you pass with flying colors as usual.” He handed her a headband and she skipped back to her seat.

“G-Good job, Sakura-san.” A dark blue-haired girl with white eyes said as she walked past her. “Co-Congratulations!” Unfortunately she spoke too quietly for Sakura to hear, ending up unintentionally ignored. She frowned.

“Hinata Hyuuga, you’re next.” Iruka called. The white-eyed girl quickly stood up and joined her sensei in front of the class.

* * *

“So, how do I look?” Sakura asked after tying her newly acquired headband around her forehead.

Ino, who wore hers around her waist like a belt, tapped her chin with the tip of her index finger, thinking. “Hmm… It’s not bad, but it doesn’t really suit you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You look too… I don’t want to say unnatural, but you don’t look good with your forehead covered. What if you… Oh, I know! Hold still!” Ino first untied Sakura’s headband, then she untied the red ribbon that kept her bangs from covering her face. After that Ino used the headband to tie Sakura’s hair the same way the ribbon did. “There, much better! You have a very pretty face, you should show as much of it as you possibly can.” She playfully stuck out her tongue before poking he friend’s forehead. “Which is not hard, given that gigantic forehead of yours!”

But Sakura didn’t fall for the taunt; her attention was focused on the red ribbon Ino had in her hand.

“But that ribbon, it’s—”

“I know.” Ino interrupted, smiling at her. “But you’re a big girl now.” She took Sakura’s hand and placed her ribbon on it, closing Sakura’s fingers around it. “You can keep it, but you outgrew this old thing long ago. Starting today, we’re both kunoichi of the Leaf Village. We’re equals. But if you keep wearing that ribbon you’ll still be the same Sakura from back then. It’s time for you to bloom.”

“Ino…”

The blonde giggled. “See? You don’t even call me ‘Ino-senpai’ like you used to. That’s a step in the right direction.”

With a smile on her face, Sakura rolled her eyes.

* * *

_“Where did you get that?”_

_“She probably stole it!”_

_“That belongs to Ino-chan, give it back!”_

_“I-I know!” A much young Sakura with pink bangs covering her forehead said, presenting a red ribbon to an equally younger Ino and her two lackeys. “Y-You left it on the p-park yesterday, I-I wanted to g-give it back to you.”_

_“My mom says she’s evil and we shouldn’t talk to her.”_

_“She probably rubbed her evil all over the ribbon.”_

_“Evil!”_

_“I’m not evil!” Sakura said on the verge of tears. “I’m not!”_

_“Both of you, shut it!” Ino ordered. The two girls stepped back and did as they were told. She then took the red ribbon from Sakura’s hand. “What’s your name?”_

_“S-Sakura Haruno.”_

_“Well, thank you, Sakura Haruno, but I don’t need this anymore.”_

_“O-Oh…” She looked at the floor, crestfallen._

_“Wait, I know! Hold still!” Ino commanded as she used the ribbon to tie Sakura’s hair in a way that would keep her hair from covering her forehead. “There, it looks much better on you than it would on me. My name is Ino Yamanaka, by the way. And you can keep the ribbon, it’s a gift.”_

_Sakura’s eyes lit up and she smiled. “Th-Thank you, Ino-senpai!”_

_“B-But Ino-chan, our parents—”_

_“I know what our parents said.” Ino interrupted. “But I prefer to judge the people I meet with my own eyes. Does she seem evil to you?” None of her companions said anything. She turned to address Sakura one more time and offered her a hand. “Wanna be friends?”_

_Sakura nodded enthusiastically before holding Ino’s hand._

* * *

“Kakashi-kun!” The redheaded former kunoichi called as she approached the kunai-shaped stone where the names of their fallen comrades were etched, holding a bouquet. The silver-haired masked jonin turned around to address her.

“Good morning, Kushina-san.” He greeted his former sensei’s wife as she stood beside him in front of the Memorial Stone. “Today’s the day, huh?”

Kushina Uzumaki nodded. “It feels like yesterday when I first held him in my arms in that hospital room, and now my little boy is part of his very own team.” Kushina placed the bouquet in front of the stone and rubbed a spot on the memorial where the name _Minato Namikaze_ was engraved. “Hear that, darling? Your son is a genin now. You must be so proud.”

“Well, he still needs to pass my test before he’s officially recognized as a genin.” Kakashi corrected her.

“Oh, hush, you! I know he’ll pass with flying colors.”

“What about you, Kushina-san? Are you going to come out of retirement now that your son is a ninja? The village could always use more talented kunoichi like yourself.”

“I’m just a simple housewife, Kakashi-kun. It’s been so long since I last called myself a shinobi; my skills have rusted beyond salvation, what good would I be in a fight? Besides, my boy needs a place to rest after missions. I want to be there for him, to greet him with a warm hug and a healthy meal – if I leave him to his own devices, he’ll just eat ramen for the rest of his life.” Her bright smile turned into a frown. “I’m the only family he has left. If what happened to his father happened to me as well…”

Kakashi knew exactly what she was talking about; his sensei retired after the Third Shinobi World War ended due to severe injuries that put an end to his career as a ninja, but came out of retirement so he could help his long-time friend, the Fourth Hokage, defend the village from the nine-tailed fox, losing his life in the process.

Kushina placed a hand on the shoulder of her late husband’s former student, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Take good care of him for me, alright?”

“You can count on me.”

“I should go. Don’t lose track of time and get there three hours late as usual.”

“No promises.”

Kushina giggled and started to walk away before stopping for one moment. “And look after Sasuke-chan as well. He’s barely at home anymore when I drop in for a visit; I’m starting to get worried.”

“I’ll do everything I can for those three.”

“Speaking of which, have they decided who’s going to be the third member? Is it a cute girl?” She playfully asked.

“It’s Sakura Haruno.”

Kushina’s eyes widened for a moment and her smile faded, but she quickly regained her composure. “I… see.”

“Don’t blame her, Kushina-san.” Kakashi said, knowing exactly what was going through the widow’s mind. “She’s as much a victim of circumstance as Minato-sensei was.”

“I know that, I’m just… It’s hard to look at that poor girl and not see… that thing. It’s still there, Kakashi-kun, biding its time and waiting for an opportunity.”

“And if that opportunity ever presents itself, I’ll be there to put a stop to it. I will not let what happened twelve years ago happen again, you have my word.”

Kakashi clenched his fist, thinking back to the day he stopped a jinchuuriki with his own hands. Looking at the name _Rin Nohara_ engraved on the Memorial Stone, he prayed that it wouldn’t happen a second time.

* * *

The next morning, all the recently graduated students gathered in their classroom for one last meeting in which their teams would be announced and they would be introduced to the jonin in charge of them. As usual, girls were fighting over who would sit next to the Uchiha boy and the Uzumaki boy, with the exception of Sakura, who had no interest in either of them, and Hinata Hyuuga, who was more intrigued by Sakura than anyone else. It didn’t take long for Iruka-sensei to join them.

“Starting today, all of you are officially ninja of the Leaf Village.” The teacher explained. “But that’s only the first step, you’re still just a bunch of rookie genin. From here on out, things will only get harder. You will be separated into groups of three and each group will have a jonin assigned to them. You’ll work as a team, carry out missions together and support each other.”

“Groups of three, huh?” Ino muttered. “Is it too much to ask for me to be in the same team as both Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun?”

Sakura’s eyes rolled. “Can’t you think about anything that isn’t those two for five seconds?”

“That’s not true.” Ino booped the tip of Sakura’s nose with her index finger. “I also think about you!”

The pink-haired genin batted her eyelashes at the blonde. “I-Ino-chan, I had no idea you had those kinds of feelings for me.”

Ino’s face immediately turned red. “I-I-I didn’t mean it like that, you big forehead weirdo!”

Sakura covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a giggle. Ino huffed, crossed her arms and looked away.

“Team 7.” Iruka announced. “Sakura Haruno. Naruto Uzumaki.” Sakura sunk into her seat as Naruto cheered. “And Sasuke Uchiha.” Naruto sunk into his seat as Sakura slammed her face on her desk. Sasuke simply let out a huff of acknowledgement.

Sakura looked up, noticing glares directed at her coming from many of her female classmates.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“Why does _she_ get to team up with both of them?”

“Did you bribe Iruka-sensei? Confess!”

“Students were separated into teams according to their skill level so that all members could go at the same pace and keep up with each other.” Iruka explained. “Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are the most talented students in class and that is why they were all put in the same team. Any more objections?”

 _“Besides, Sakura is the only girl who would rather focus on the mission instead of them, so that’s a nice bonus.”_ He thought to himself.

They accepted Iruka-sensei’s explanation, but the glares were still there. Even Ino was shooting Sakura a dirty look.

“What?” She asked.

“You’re way too lucky, you know that?” Ino said.

“I beg to differ.” Sakura replied. “This is the worst possible outcome I can think of, I’m feeling the exact opposite of lucky.”

Ino huffed one more time.

“Team 10.” Iruka continued. “Ino Yamanaka. Shikamaru Nara. And Choji Akimichi.”

Ino, realizing she had to team up with the laziest boy in class and the fattest boy in class, sighed in defeat.

“The jonin in charge of each team will be here shortly. Until then, you’re free to take a break. Go get something to eat, get to know each other better over a meal.”

Against their teacher’s will, Sakura chose to spend the break by herself; she already knew everything she needed to know about Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, and she’d rather spend as little time near them as her position as their teammate would allow. She wanted to spend time with her only friend Ino, given that it was something they wouldn’t be able to do as often since they were on different teams, but Ino knew close to nothing about Choji and Shikamaru and so she chose to spend the break with them.

 _“Only friend…”_ She thought as a long forgotten memory resurfaced.

* * *

_“I’m sorry about them, I didn’t know they were going to be such jerks about it.” Little Ino apologized while rubbing little Sakura’s back; she had just introduced her new friend to some of her old ones and they reacted poorly._

_“I-It’s ok, I’m used to it…” Sakura put on a brave face, but Ino could tell she was deeply hurt._

_“Well, nothing of value was lost anyway. If they’re just going to believe everything they’re told without actually getting to know you first, then I don’t want to hang out with them anymore.”_

_“B-But they’re your friends.”_

_“No, Sakura-chan!” Ino hugged her from behind. “ **You** are my friend.”_

_“Ino-senpai…”_

_“Well, no point in dwelling on the past!” Ino said, ending the hug. “What about you? Have any friends you’d like to introduce me to?”_

_“Just one, but… I don’t think I can introduce you to him.”_

_“Why not?”_

_“Because… no one else can see him.”_

_“So he’s imaginary?”_

_“No, he’s not! Kitsu-nii is real and I talk to him in our special place! I just don’t know how to take others there with me…”_

_“Where is this ‘special place’?”_

_“I don’t know. Sometimes when I’m all alone I just… go there. Then when I leave I’m exactly where I was before.”_

_“Maybe you just doze off and dream about it.”_

_“…Maybe.” Sakura didn’t believe that, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to convince Ino without proof, the one thing she didn’t have._

* * *

Sakura gasped as she opened her eyes. Before she met Ino, her only ‘friend’ was Kitsu-nii, a fox trapped in a cage. She eventually started believing Ino’s claim that he was imaginary until she completely forgot all about him. But given what she had recently learned about her own body and what had been sealed within in, maybe there was more to that story than she originally believed.

She sat on the grass with her legs crossed and hands on her lap in a meditation position before closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and concentrating. She could hear the wind blowing and birds chirping, but eventually all sounds faded away until there was only silence. When she opened her eyes, Sakura found herself in a dimly lit corridor with the floor covered in water. The only sound she could hear was the splashing of her feet as she walked until she heard a deep, menacing growl in the distance. She followed the sound that grew louder and louder as she walked towards its source, until she came across a massive gate that looked somewhat familiar.

 **“Been a while, runt.”** A booming voice coming from beyond the closed gate spoke up. Its source made itself known by walking closer: a giant red fox with glowing red eyes and nine massive tails swinging wildly behind it. **“You’ve grown.”**

“K-Kitsu-nii…”

**“You insist on calling me that. I’ve grown tired of telling you that’s not my name.”**

* * *

_“Then what is it?”_

**_“That’s none of your business, runt.”_ **

_“If you’re not gonna tell me then I’m gonna keep calling you Kitsune-oniisan. Hm, but that’s a mouthful. How about just Kitsu-nii?”_

* * *

The massive beast pressed its face against the bars of the gate.

**“This cursed seal is in the way. I want to shred you to bits so I can be free and have my revenge.”**

“That’s never going to happen!”

**“Is that so? This seal is already starting to weaken. Or have you forgotten what happened two nights ago?”**

“Two nights ago?” Sakura remembered being attacked by Mizuki, him revealing the hidden truth about the nine-tailed fox inside her and… nothing else. She had no idea what the beast was talking about.

 **“So you did forget. Your body isn’t strong enough to withstand my chakra for extended periods of time. It exhausted you to the point of causing fatigue amnesia.”** The nine-tailed fox groaned. **“You’re not worthy of being used as my container – good news for me, I suppose. It’s only a matter of time until you kill yourself trying to keep me locked in, and I can’t wait.”** He chuckled. **“Is this what shinobi are like nowadays? Pathetic.”**

“I-I’ll admit, I don’t train my body as much as I should – I always felt more comfortable dealing with theoretical stuff than with practical application. B-But that’s only a matter of time too! Starting today I’m officially a genin of the Leaf Village, a full-fledged kunoichi. I’ll get stronger as I gain experience. You’ll never hurt anyone else as long as I live!”

The fox grunted. **“Leaf Village, the home of those men… As soon as I’m out of here, I’ll reduce that place to a pile of blood-soaked dust.”**

“Why are you so angry? Why do you want to destroy the Leaf Village so badly? It would be one thing if you were a mindless beast, but you are clearly capable of rational thought.”

 **“My reasons are my own, they do not concern you.”** He went quiet for a moment. **“You say you’ll become stronger with experience, right? We’ll see. Come back here when that day arrives and I’ll put you to the test, runt.”**

* * *

The pink-haired genin was snapped out of her meditation by someone placing a hand on her shoulder and shaking her. Upon opening her eyes, she found herself face to face with her redheaded teammate. The blue cloth of the headband wrapped around his head had been replaced with a black one.

“Rise and shine, Sakura-chan!” He greeted with a smile. “Break time is over, the jonin are here.”

“I wasn’t sleeping, I was meditating.” She corrected him as she stood up, patting herself to get rid of the dirt and blades of grass stuck to her clothes.

“Let’s go meet our new sensei!” Naruto offered her a hand, but she simply ignored it and walked past him. With an awkward laugh, he used that extended hand to rub the back of his head before following her back to class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I adjusted Naruto's design a little bit, in case I wasn't clear: he has straight red hair like the way he imagined when he met Kushina (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/96/2c/47/962c47b3f14d1b35a03c6d4ea65a3173.png) and wears his Shippuden clothes because I always thought his part I outfit was too baggy and looked weird.
> 
> Also neither he nor Sakura have whiskers. Never was a fan of those.


	2. Chapter 2

“What’s taking him so long?” Naruto, who was standing in the hallway by the classroom door, asked as he looked both ways frantically. All the other genin had already met the jonin in charge of their teams and only Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were left in the empty classroom. “How long has it been since the last team left?”

“Two hours and fourteen minutes.” Sakura replied whilst looking up from the book she was reading and at the wall clock. “And now fifteen. But really, who’s counting?”

“Here he comes!” Naruto announced before dashing back into the class, going back to his seat and propping his feet on the desk with his arms crossed behind his head.

Just as Naruto said, it didn’t take long for a gray-haired man to enter the room; he wore the standard military uniform of the Leaf Village consisting of dark blue pants and long-sleeve shirt with a flak jacket, as well as a pair of fingerless gloves. He also wore a mask that concealed the lower half of his face and used his headband as a makeshift eyepatch to cover his left eye.

Kakashi Hatake looked over the group of genin he was left in charge: Sasuke Uchiha looked lost in his own little world, Sakura Haruno spared a moment of her precious time to acknowledge his presence with a glance before returning to her book and Naruto Uzumaki was desperately attempting to look cool but failing miserably to do so. The jonin sighed.

“So you three are this year’s top graduates?” Kakashi finally asked. “Frankly, I’m disappointed.”

“Say what?” Naruto asked, his voice tone a mixture of shock and confusion.

Sasuke’s eye twitched as he glared at their sensei.

Sakura placed a bookmark on the page she was reading and closed her book. “Great, so am I! Can I be placed in a different team now? I don’t want to beg, but if that’s what it takes…”

Kakashi shook his head. “The three of you, come with me.” The jonin led Team 7 to the roof of the academy, where he instructed them to sit down while he leaned against the railing, facing the three of them. “Let’s get to know each other a little bit. Introduce yourselves.”

“Couldn’t we just do this indoors?” Naruto asked.

“If you want to be ninja of the Leaf you need to learn to follow instructions, even when they make little to no sense.” He explained. “More often than not, the person giving orders has more information than the one receiving them.”

“And what information do you have that we don’t?”

“It’s cleaning time and I don’t want to give the janitor any trouble.”

“I see.”

“How do you want us to introduce ourselves?” Sakura asked, getting back to the topic at hand.

“Basic stuff. The things you like, dislike, your dreams, hobbies…”

“Why don’t you go first?” Naruto suggested.

“Very well. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I don’t plan on telling you the things I like or dislike. As for my dreams… Well, I have many hobbies. Your turn.”

“You didn’t tell us anything other than your name, but…” Naruto cleared his throat. “My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I love ramen but my mom doesn’t let me eat it as often as I’d like to. I hate it when she hits me in the head when she gets angry and my hobby is to train with her so she can teach me our clan’s secret techniques. As for my dream, I want to travel around the world and find the descendants of the Uzumaki that scattered after the Eddy Village was destroyed and reestablish our clan!”

“I had no idea you were such a mama’s boy, Uzumaki.” Sakura teased him.

“My mom is the best person ever, I respect her a whole lot!” He replied. “And call me Naruto.”

_“Kushina-san doted on him.”_ Kakashi thought. “Alright, next.”

“My name is Sakura Haruno. I like anmitsu and really hate these two – especially Uzumaki.”

“Don’t be like that, Sakura-chan!” Naruto pleaded.

“My hobby is studying any text I can get my hands on.”

“Mm-hm. What about dreams?” Their sensei asked.

Sakura looked up at the clouds, tapping her chin with her index finger. “I… don’t really have any. I guess I have a purpose, I don’t know if those can be classified as ‘dreams’.”

“And what is that purpose?”

 _“To grow stronger so that the demon fox never breaks the seal and escapes.”_ Sakura thought to herself before looking at her teammates – Naruto looked back at her expectantly while Sasuke glanced in her direction. They didn’t know that fact about her, and she believed it would be better to keep things that way. “It’s a secret!”

“Aw, come on, Sakura-chan. If you tell us, maybe we can help you!” Naruto turned his head to glare at Sasuke. “Well, one of us.”

“Nope! Secret.”

“Last one.” Kakashi said.

“My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are many things I hate, but not many I like. I have no hobbies and I, too, don’t have a dream, but an ambition: I will revive my clan and kill a certain someone.”

 _“Just as I suspected.”_ Kakashi thought. “Alright, that’s enough of that. We’ll meet again tomorrow for your first mission.”

“What kind of mission?” Naruto asked.

“Survival training.”

“More training? Come on, we already had plenty of that at the academy!”

Kakashi chuckled. “Let me tell you a little secret: you may have graduated the academy, but for now your position as a genin is only temporary.”

“Temporary? How come?”

“Out of the 27 graduates, only 9 of you will become full-fledged shinobi – everyone else will return their headbands and go back to the academy. The real graduation exam starts now, and two thirds of your classmates are going to fail. And don’t think for one second that just because you lot are the top graduates your success is guaranteed, it actually means that your exam will be more difficult than the others; you’ll have to work harder than the rest if you want to become real genin.”

Sasuke clenched his fists. Naruto wanted to protest, but didn’t know what words to use. Sakura had a determined look on her face.

“We’ll meet at Training Ground #3, 5 AM sharp. Bring your ninja tools. Dismissed. Ah, and one more thing: don’t eat breakfast, you’ll just throw it all up.”

* * *

Training Ground #3 consisted of a clearing by the woods with a trio of tree trunks erected side by side. Sakura arrived twenty minutes early, only to find Naruto already there throwing punches and kicks in the air.

“Here so soon?” She asked.

“Good morning, Sakura-chan!” He greeted. “I’ve been here since 4 AM, actually. I’m really fired up and want to pass this test so I can become a real ninja like my mom and dad.”

She smiled. “You’re dedicated, I’ll give you that.”

“Awesome! Wanna go out later?”

Her smile vanished. “I’m never complimenting you again.”

Sasuke arrived 5 AM on the dot, but didn’t acknowledge their presence in any way. Sakura attempted to be friendly by waving at him, but was promptly ignored. She sat down, reached into the bag containing the tools she brought with her and retrieved a book that she proceeded to read. Naruto stopped punching and kicking and started doing push-ups. Sasuke simply stood there, watching the horizon and waiting for Kakashi.

“How are you not exhausted?” Sakura asked the redheaded boy, who didn’t even look winded despite exercising nonstop since before her arrival.

“Members of the Uzumaki clan have lots of stamina.” Naruto winked suggestively at her. She scowled.

“Sometimes I’m not sure why I even bother talking to you.”

5 AM came and went. So did 6 AM, 7 AM, 8 AM… Kakashi Hatake finally showed up ten minutes past 11 AM.

“Good morning, team!” He greeted.

“Don’t ‘good morning’ us, what took you so long?” Naruto asked, stopping his sit-ups to point an accusatory finger at him.

“Sorry, sorry, I stopped to help an old lady cross the street!”

“Where was that street, the Sand Village? Jeez.” Sakura commented.

Kakashi-sensei placed two bento boxes and an alarm clock on top of the tree trunks. “It’s set for noon.” He then reached into his pocket and retrieved a pair of bells. “Your task is to take these bells from me before then. Those who do will be rewarded with lunch. If you can’t, then I’ll tie you up and eat it in front of you.”

“But there are only two bells.” Sakura pointed out. “That means…”

“Regardless of whether we’re able to take them or not, at least one of us is getting tied up.” Sasuke finished.

“Correct!” Kakashi said with a smile that could be seen through his face mask. “Plus, the one that fails will also fail the mission and be sent back to the academy. Will it be just one, two or all three of you? I can’t wait to find out. Feel free to use any tool or jutsu you want; if you want to take these, you have to come at me ready to kill me for them. Understood?” All three genin candidates nodded. “Start!”

The three of them didn’t waste any time and rushed into the woods to conceal themselves. Kakashi tied the belts to his jacket before reaching into his hip pouch, retrieving a pocket book with an orange cover. He began to read it, giving off the appearance that he was completely unconcerned with his surroundings despite the fact that he had just instructed three people to attack him with the intent to kill.

Sakura was the first to attack, rushing out of the woods straight at him with a kunai in hand.

“Bold move.” Kakashi said. He blocked her attempt at a stab before retaliating with an elbow to her stomach. Sakura exploded into a cloud of smoke. “A Shadow Clone, huh?” Another Sakura came at him from, but he dispatched that clone just as swiftly. More and more Sakura clones attacked him, sometimes in pairs and even in trios, all of them with kunai in hand, but he dispatched all of them with ease. “Careful, you’ll run out of chakra if you overdo it.”

Seeing his distraction as an opportunity, Sasuke snuck up on him from behind and tried to kick him in the left side of his head, believing his covered eye to be a blind spot, but Kakashi easily blocked the kick with his forearm before grabbing him by the shin. Sasuke attempted to punch him while his leg was restrained, but Kakashi chucked him in the nearby river before he had the opportunity.

“Too hasty.” He said before elbowing two more Sakuras in the face when they got too close to him.

Suddenly four glowing chains made of pure chakra sprouted from the ground. Two of them wrapped around Kakashi’s arm while a third wrapped around his midriff and a fourth around his ankles, locking his legs together.

“Thanks for the distraction, Sasuke.” Naruto, who had the same four chakra chains sprouting from his back and burying themselves in the ground, said. “And now for the finishing move!”

Naruto extended his arm and a fifth chakra chain appeared from inside his sleeve, flying straight at Kakashi. The moment it connected with his body, however, an explosion of smoke occurred; when it dissipated, Naruto could see that the jonin was no longer there and his chains were wrapped around a wooden log with his sleeve chain piercing it.

“Substitution Jutsu.” Kakashi, who was standing right behind Naruto, book still in hand, explained while patting his head. “You’ll have to try harder if you want to take these.” Kakashi patted the spot on his vest where the bells were supposed to be, but there was no sound. “What the…?” He looked away from his book and realized that none of the bells were there anymore. It was then that he noticed one of the Sakuras he elbowed was still lying on the ground, chuckling.

The real Sakura, who was bleeding from both nostrils, stood up still a little dazed. She then held up her hand, showing that she was in possession of both bells. “Gotcha!”

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto cheered. “Awesome!”

“How?” Sasuke asked as stepped out of the river.

“I kept throwing Shadow Clones at Kakashi-sensei until he believed all the Sakuras coming at him were fake. Then I joined in, waited for the opportunity and…” She made a slicing motion with her kunai. “Or did you think I was going to use this to fight him?”

Kakashi laughed as he clapped. “Well done, Sakura.”

“So, who are you going to give the second bell to?” Naruto asked.

“Give?” Sakura closed her hand around the bells. “These are mine, Uzumaki, go get your own. Oh wait! There’s none left!” She stuck out her tongue playfully.

“That’s cold, Sakura-chan…” His eyes widened. “Wait, does that mean—”

* * *

“Good job, Sakura, you earned these.” Kakashi congratulated her as he handed her both bento boxes.

“Thank you, Kakashi-sensei.”

“So, what now?” Naruto, who was tied to one of the trunks, asked. “Are we going back to the academy?”

Sasuke, who was tied to a different trunk, clicked his tongue in rage and embarrassment.

Kakashi crossed his arms. “All of you are indeed quite talented, I’ll give you that, so I suppose you deserve another shot. I won’t suggest that you should quit being a ninja, but the three of you are going back to the academy.”

“Wait… three?” Sakura asked, understandably confused.

“Yes, three. You classroom was separated into groups of three for a reason, and it was to test how well you’re able to work as a team. Instead, I only saw you using each other as distractions so you could try and take the bells by yourselves. Even you, Sakura, who managed to steal them from me, didn’t spare a single moment to worry about your teammates or attempted to help them. You took both bells from me, yet you refused to offer any of them to your teammates and kept them to yourself. I know that you’re not particularly fond of either of them but, as a shinobi, you must cast those feelings aside.

“Imagine you became a ninja right now and you were hired to work as the bodyguard of a lecherous man who kept putting the moves on you.” Sakura visibly shuddered. “Now imagine that man was taken hostage. Would you abandon him to die and fail your mission because you didn’t like him?” She looked down, unable to answer. During that moment of silence, Kakashi’s alarm clock rung; it was noon.

“I’ll give you all one more chance. Don’t disappoint me again.” Kakashi walked away from the group. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes; eat up in the meantime but don’t feed Naruto or Sasuke – they didn’t get the bells, so they don’t get to eat. If you do, you _will_ be punished.”

The moment Kakashi disappeared in the trees, Sakura sighed loudly.

“I deserved that…” She mumbled before sitting down with her back pressed to the unoccupied middle tree trunk, still holding the bento boxes. She opened the first box and poked at the rice with the chopsticks, thinking. “Teamwork, huh?” The kunoichi stood up, picked a ball of rice with the chopsticks and held it in front of Sasuke’s face. “Here. Eat up.”

“Don’t be an idiot, he told you not to feed us.” Sasuke chastised her.

“I know what he said!” She replied. “But he also said we’re supposed to work together. What good is a team with most of its members of the verge of death by starvation?”

Sasuke looked into her eyes for a moment and saw nothing but determination. The Uchiha boy opened his mouth and ate the rice. “T-Thanks.”

“Your turn, Naruto.”

“Hey, you didn’t call me Uzumaki this time!”

“If we’re supposed to work together then I should stop treating you like a stranger.” She also offered him a ball of rice. “Open up.”

“You’re an angel, Sakura-chan!”

She fed them both the content of the first bento in no time at all, so she switched to the second.

“That hit the spot, thanks a lot!” Naruto said before noticing the empty box she was holding. “Hey, you didn’t leave any for yourself.”

She looked down at the box. “I guess so.” She smiled. “Looks like you two will have to pick up my slack, huh? Sorry about that.”

“You can count on us, we got your back!” Naruto promised. Sasuke nodded.

Her blood ran cold and her expression turned into absolute horror when she felt a hand land on her shoulder.

“I told you not to feed them, Sakura. You disobeyed a direct order from your superior.” Kakashi scolded her, squeezing her shoulder. “Your punishment starts now!”

With some of his energy restored, Naruto was able to summon his chakra chains, cutting through the ropes holding him in place as well as the ones binding Sasuke. Together, they kicked Kakashi away from Sakura and stood protectively between him and their kunoichi teammate.

“We’re a team of three!” Sasuke asserted.

“If you’re going to punish her, you’ll have to go through us first!” Naruto warned, cracking his knuckles.

“A team of three, huh?” Kakashi laughed and clapped once again. “Congratulations, you pass!”

“Wh-What?” Naruto asked, taken aback. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

“A ninja that disobeys orders and breaks rules is scum.” Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto’s and Sasuke’s shoulders. “But a ninja that abandons their comrades is worse than scum. Starting now, the members of Team 7 are official genin of the Leaf Village.”

Naruto jumped up, shouting in celebration. Sasuke smiled. Sakura fell on her back, clutching her growling stomach.

“Hungry…”

* * *

Not a day went by without Team 7 being assigned the most mundane D-rank missions, from peeling potatoes to babysitting. Even Sakura, who was more scholar than brawler, expected the life of an active shinobi, even a low rank one, to involve a little more excitement. Naruto, who shared the same sentiment, voiced his opinion to the Hokage that they, as the top 3 students of their class, could handle tougher missions; it took some convincing from Naruto, Sakura and even a remark from Sasuke, but he eventually gave in and assigned Team 7 a C-rank mission: escort a certain person of interest back to his village and work as his bodyguards until his work was finished.

Meeting Tazuna, the bridge building expert, was a unique experience given that he was a little tipsy and flinging insults around like it’s nobody’s business, but once he settled down and the shinobi gathered the necessary supplies, the five of them departed to the Land of Waves.

Since they were travelling on foot, it took a couple of days for them to reach their destination. it was a quiet trip with nothing eventful happening to Team 7; until the last few hours of the final day, that is.

Team 7 and their client walked past a puddle in the middle of the dirt road, but none of them paid much attention to it. That puddle, however, turned out to be two shinobi from the Mist Village in disguise, both of them wearing large metal gauntlets connected to each other by spiked chains. In the blink of an eye, the two of them wrapped their weapon around Kakashi and pulled, effectively shredding the jonin to bits.

“One down.” One of them said.

“Ka-Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto shouted before the two Mist shinobi went after him.

Sasuke was the first to move, pinning their chain to a tree with a shuriken before throwing a kunai at it, further preventing them from pulling it free. Sakura acted right after him, summoning four Shadow Clones – two of them grabbed and pulled their gauntlets while the other two knocked the assassins to the ground, separating them from their weapons. Before they had the opportunity to get back up, Naruto quickly recovered from the shock and summoned his chakra chains, restraining them and pressing the bladed tips to their necks.

Naruto sighed in relief when the jonin he first believed to be dead joined them, realizing that what he thought was a pile of chunks of meat was in fact a pile of pieces of wood that Kakashi used as a replacement for his Substitution Jutsu.

“Good job, all of you.” Kakashi said while picking up the gauntlets and inspecting them.

Tazuna also sighed, relieved that he had been saved by the very group he had previously insulted for being too young.

“I need to talk to you, Tazuna-san.” Kakashi said as he approached the older man.

Team 7 had been hired to defend the bridge constructor from common thugs, so the fact that they had just been ambushed by a pair of chunin from the Mist Village meant crucial information had been withheld and the mission had been incorrectly classified as C-rank when B-rank or above would have been more appropriate. That, however, would have made the request more expensive.

Tazuna certainly had his reasons, but that omission put all of their lives in danger – if the three genin hadn’t acted quickly then someone would have ended up seriously injured, which could have proven to be fatal considering Kakashi found out during his inspection of the gauntlets that they had blades coated in poison. The jonin suggested abandoning the mission and returning to the village, but Sakura rejected it.

“We came all the way out here already, didn’t we?” She said. “Can’t we at least accompany Tazuna-san back to his village instead of abandoning him out here in the middle of nowhere? If we’re going to quit the mission we should at least make sure he’s safe first.”

Kakashi looked at the boys of the team. “Anyone opposed to the idea?”

“If Sakura-chan wants to continue, then so do I!” Naruto stated. Sasuke just shrugged.

With that out of the way, Team 7 and their client continued their journey. It didn’t take long for them to reach the ocean where they took a boat that ferried them to the Land of Waves, a small island country located south of the Land of Fire. On their way there they passed the unfinished bridge that was going to connect the two countries; Sakura stared in awe at it – she had never left the Leaf Village before, so seeing something that big for the first time was overwhelming.

While still on the boat, Tazuna revealed the whole truth behind the assassination attempt: Gatoh, a shipping magnate and founder of the Gatoh Company, took over the shipping routes and isolated the Land of Waves from the outside world. The construction of the bridge would crush his monopoly by allowing free trade with the mainland, thus posing a threat to him which led to Gatoh hiring shinobi assassins to take Tazuna out of the picture – without him, the bridge would never be finished.

The five of them disembarked in a quaint little fishing village before continuing their journey on foot, but keeping their guard up in case someone else was sent after them.

“Get down!” Kakashi ordered; his students plus their client did as they were told, narrowly avoiding a massive sword that flew past them before getting stuck in the trunk of a tree. A shirtless man with the bottom half of his face covered in bandages and wearing the headband of the Mist Village stood on the handle of the weapon, looking down at them.

“Well, if it isn’t Zabuza Momochi, rogue ninja of the Mist Village.” Kakashi said nonchalantly.

“Z-Zabuza?” Sakura shivered; she memorized many names from the Leaf’s list of wanted criminals, and his was one of those names. Sakura’s legs started trembling; she never expected to face such a ruthless mercenary the first time she stepped out of the village.

“Kakashi of the Sharingan.” Zabuza said, causing Sasuke to look at his sensei in confusion. “Hand over the old man.”

“Everyone, on Tazuna-san.” The jonin ordered as he grabbed his forehead protector. The genin formed a human shield in front of Tazuna, each holding a kunai. “Protect him with your life.” He lifted his headband, exposing his left eye; unlike his black right eye, that one was red with three tomoe arranged in a circle around his pupil. Sasuke was stunned – the Sharingan was an ability that only members of the Uchiha clan were able to manifest.

“So you’re going to use your Sharingan against me from the start? I’m honored.” Zabuza wrapped his hand around the handle of the sword. “But I’m not here for idle chit-chat. I’m going to kill you, and after that I’m going to kill the old man.” Quick as a flash, Zabuza retrieved his weapon before disappearing, despite it being very big, heavy and stuck deep in the tree.

Zabuza used ninjutsu to summon a thick fog that covered the area, making it impossible for the young shinobi to see clearly more than just a few feet in front of them. Zabuza suddenly reappeared behind the genin and in front of Tazuna, ready to strike, but to his surprise all of them, the old man included, wrapped their arms around him, restraining his movement.

“What the…?”

“See, I suspected you’d do that.” Kakashi said. “So I gave Sakura a signal before the fog became too thick for her to see.”

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna smiled before cancelling their Transformation Jutsu, revealing that all of them were just Sakura’s Shadow Clones in disguise.

“Checkmate!” Naruto said as his chakra chains burst from the ground and wrapped themselves around Zabuza and the Shadow Clones. The pressure caused the clones to dissipate, leaving only the rogue ninja restrained by the Uzumaki’s Adamantine Chains. Kakashi approached the mercenary and pressed a kunai to his neck.

“It’s over.”

“Is it really?” The man in chains began to melt until he was reduced to a puddle of water.

“Water Clone?” Kakashi noted before Zabuza attacked him from behind, slicing his back open with his sword. The Leaf jonin, however, used the Substitution Jutsu to trade places with another of Sakura’s Shadow Clones, who took the hit for him before disappearing.

“This is starting to annoy me.” The Mist rogue ninja said.

“I have plenty of chakra to spare!” Sakura boasted. “I can do this all day!”

Zabuza dashed in the direction he heard Sakura’s voice coming from, slamming his body against hers and pressing her against a tree. She gasped in pain and surprise.

“And I can hear you.”

Sakura smirked as she disappeared. Another clone.

“You created this fog thinking it would give you an advantage.” Kakashi explained. “But it’s in fact a double-edged sword; we can use the low visibility against you as well.”

More chakra chains emerged, this time from within the tree he stood next to, chaining him to it. Unfortunately, that Zabuza also turned into water.

“Very well.” The real Zabuza said as he did another hand seal, completely dissipating the fog. Naruto and Sakura stood side by side, the former with chakra chains sprouting from his back and disappearing underground. Sasuke stood by Tazuna, ready to do his best to defend him, and Kakashi was located just a few meters in front of the rogue ninja.

Zabuza smiled underneath the bandages. With sword in hand, the swordsman dashed towards his target and sliced both him and Sasuke clean in half with one swing before any of the others could react. His eyes widened in surprise, however, when both corpses vanished into smoke.

“What the…?”

“Sasuke excels in taijutsu and short-range ninjutsu” Kakashi explained “so I had him sit this one out; both him and Tazuna-san are long gone.”

Naruto’s chains surfaced, wrapping themselves around Zabuza’s ankles and wrists.

“Nowhere to run now!” He claimed with a smile.

None of them were ready for what happened next: a pair of senbon soared through the air and pierced Zabuza’s neck, who fell to the ground seemingly dead. Turning around to look for the source of the ninja needles, they spotted a long-haired masked shinobi of the Mist Village standing on the branch of a tree.

“Nowhere to run, indeed.” The ninja said, bowing respectfully. “I’ve been tracking him for a while and waiting for an opportunity to strike. Thank you all.”

“That mask… You’re a tracker of the Mist Village’s Anbu, correct?” Kakashi of the Sharingan asked as he pressed two fingers to Zabuza’s neck – no pulse.

“Precisely. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must dispose of the corpse; it’s filled with secrets, after all.” The Mist Anbu retrieved Zabuza’s body and disappeared just as quickly as he appeared.

Kakashi took a deep breath before lowering his headband to once again cover his Sharingan. “Thankfully I didn’t have to use it that much. Now let’s go, Sasuke and Tazuna-san are waiting.”

Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura met up with Sasuke and Tazuna by the entrance of the bridge building expert’s hometown, where they were led to his house so they could rest up. They were greeted by Tsunami, Tazuna’s daughter, and her son Inari.

“I wanted to congratulate you all.” Their sensei said. “You did incredibly well today, especially against Zabuza. Despite being inexperienced genin you handled the situation better than many your age would. You worked together, followed my instructions, strategized and in the end nobody got hurt. Great job.”

“Thank you, Kakashi-sensei.” Sakura said with a bow. Naruto had a giant dumb grin on his face while Sasuke stood by the sliding door with his arms crossed, disappointed in the fact that he couldn’t do much other than run away.

“Here.” Tsunami said as she set a tray on the table with four cups of tea. “Thank you for protecting my dad, even though you had no obligation to after the truth was revealed; the Gatoh Company ruined our country’s economy, even the Daimyo doesn’t have that much money – we can’t afford expensive B-rank missions.”

“Things will be ok now!” Sakura announced with a smile. “Zabuza is dead, and he was most likely the ace up Gatoh’s sleeve.”

“I’m afraid things aren’t so simple.” Kakashi interrupted.

The pink-haired jinchuuriki raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Something’s been bothering me ever since the battle ended; Anbu trackers deal with their target’s corpse on the spot, only taking the head as proof, yet he left with Zabuza’s whole body with him. Plus the weapon he supposedly used to kill Zabuza.”

“Senbon, right?” Sasuke, who was informed of the happenings after he left, pointed out before it dawned on him. “Do you think…? No way!”

“Wh-What’s the problem?” Tsunami asked, worried about their serious expressions.

“I highly doubt that Zabuza is truly dead.”

“H-How is that possible?” Naruto asked. “You checked for a pulse, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. But senbon aren’t very deadly unless you aim for a vital spot, they are mostly used for acupuncture and healing. Also trackers know a human’s body better than most ninja, he could have easily used the senbon to hit pressure points in Zabuza’s body that only put him in a death-like state.

“First he uses a weapon with low killing rate, and then he carries away a body that is much bigger and heavier than himself. It’s very likely that his goal wasn’t to kill Zabuza, but to save him. That is a possibility we cannot overlook.”

“What are we going to do?” Sakura asked.

“The first thing you’re going to do is train. Shinobi of Zabuza’s skill level learn from their mistakes; he’ll come back prepared next time.”

“Wait, does that mean…?” Tsunami asked.

The jonin nodded. “We’ll stay. It wouldn’t be right to leave civilians to their own devices with someone like Zabuza on the prowl, even if the mission’s actual rank is theoretically beyond our team’s capabilities. Besides, these three have proved they’re more than capable of handling this, I have faith in them.”

* * *

Team 7 gathered by the woods outside of town, where Kakashi explained the basics of refined chakra control – they may have been talented shinobi but, like many beginners, had only a vague understanding of how to control their chakra, resulting in them wasting too much energy when using jutsu that required much less than what they were giving – Sakura could afford to waste chakra needlessly, given the large pool of extra chakra she had access to due to the tailed beast sealed within her, but Naruto, despite being a descendant of the Uzumaki, who were famed for having more chakra than most shinobi, and especially Sasuke, were constantly risking their lives by wasting too much chakra in battle.

The jonin ordered them to climb a tree without using their hands by teaching them how to gather chakra at the bottom of their feet; if they used too little their feet wouldn’t stick and they would fall, but if they used too much then their chakra would create a hole in the tree, leaving them with no foothold – they needed to keep a steady flow without any fluctuations.

Naruto, who was used to just dumping lots of chakra into whatever he did thanks to his Uzumaki heritage, didn’t make it very far up before the tree began to crack and he fell. The Uchiha also had large pools of chakra, although not as large as the Uzumaki, thus making Sasuke the team member with the least amount of chakra to spare, making him a little more careful with its usage, but due to his more aggressive nature he couldn’t keep a steady flow for long, increasing the chakra as he moved up, and so the tree cracked under his feet as well.

“Gee, this is tougher than I expected.” Naruto commented as he looked around. “Eh? Where’s Sakura-chan?”

“Over here!” She called, waving at them from her seat on the highest branch of the tree she had just climbed on her first try.

“Ohh, nicely done, Sakura-chan!”

“Very nice, indeed.” Kakashi pondered for a moment. “You know, I think you’re ready for the next step. The two of you, keep going until you can make it as high as Sakura did. Sakura, come with me.”

Kakashi led the kunoichi to a pond not far from there, but before he could explain what he was going to teach her, she interrupted him:

“Um, Kakashi-sensei? Before we start, there’s something I’d like to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Back when we were fighting, my Shadow Clones… After they dissipated, I… I kind of knew everything they had seen and experienced, even though I had no way of seeing anything myself in a fog that thick. What was that all about?”

Kakashi smiled under his mask. “Oh, so you figured out the Shadow Clone’s secret property already? You never cease to impress, Sakura.”

She blushed. “Th-Thank you, sensei!”

“As for your question, well… The short answer is, all the experience accumulated by your Shadow Clones, along with the chakra used to create them, is transferred back to you once they cease to be. That includes memories, knowledge and even jutsu they may have learned. They are useful for gathering intel without putting the user in any danger and, in your case, cramming many days of training into only a few hours.”

“In my case? What do you mean?”

He pointed at her stomach. “I mean that secret you carry inside of you. You have much, and I mean _much_ more chakra than the average shinobi thanks to it, so you can create and maintain as many Shadow Clones as you want without worrying about running low anytime soon.”

“I… see.” Sakura placed a hand on her stomach, right on top of where her seal was located.

* * *

_“Is that a tattoo?” A younger Ino asked, looking at the strange spiral surrounded by unfamiliar symbols located on Sakura’s stomach while the latter held her shirt up so she could look at it._

_“I don’t think so. It only shows up when I’m channeling my chakra.” The equally young Sakura explained as the symbol slowly faded until only her bare skin was visible. “See? It goes away after I stop.”_

* * *

“Was that all?” Kakashi asked.

“Y-Yes, that was all. So, what are you going to teach me?”

“How to walk on water. It’s the same principle as walking on trees, but slightly more complicated. Given the outstanding control you have over your chakra, however, I believe you can do it. Now, let me explain how it works…”

* * *

Sakura strolled through the woods with a wicker basket in hand, gathering medicinal herbs; just as Tsunami explained, the country was very poor and they couldn’t afford many luxuries, and after seeing first-hand the state things were in, the pink-haired kunoichi decided to do something to help. During her voluntary mission, she came across a girl around her age in a pink yukata with long and beautiful black hair who, just like her, had a basket in hand and appeared to be collecting herbs as well.

“Good morning.” Sakura greeted, waving at her. The girl was a little taken aback at first, but waved back at her with a smile. “You’re gathering herbs too, huh? Here, take some of mine, I have plenty.”

“Thank you.” She said as she transferred a handful of herbs from Sakura’s basket into her own.

“What’s a girl like you doing all the way out here by yourself? These woods may be quiet, but they’re still dangerous.”

“I could ask you the same question.”

“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.” She pointed at the Leaf Village headband she wore as a hairband. “I’m a ninja!”

“So you are. You’ve been hired to protect the construction crew while they build the bridge, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“Why are you gathering herbs, then? Did somebody get hurt?”

“No, no, nothing like that. I’m going to make herbal medicine for the people in town. Some of them really need it.”

“Can they even afford it?”

“Oh I’m not gonna sell it, I’ll just give it away to those who need it the most.”

“That’s generous of you.”

“I just want to help people. The more lives I save, the less people like me will exist. It’s one of the reasons why I wanted to become a ninja.”

“People like you?”

“I grew up without any family, had to fend for myself most of the time. But every life I save could be a parent that will come back home that day and give their child a big hug.” Sakura crouched, picked up an herb and held it in front of her face. “But my knowledge of medicine is very basic. When this mission is over and we come back to the village, I think I’ll look into medical ninjutsu.”

The raven haired girl set the basket on the grass and sat beside Sakura. “I lost my family, too. I thought I was going to die alone in the streets, but then someone took me in and raised me. I owe him my life, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to help him accomplish his goals.”

“He sounds like a good man.”

She chuckled. “He’s a little rough around the edges, but he cares about me as much as I care about him. Do you have someone you care deeply about?”

* * *

_“Who’s that girl, Ino-chan?”_

_“Come on, introduce yourself.”_

_“M-My name is S-Sakura Haruno.”_

* * *

“Yes, I do. She stood by my side when no one else would, and I don’t know where I’d be today if it wasn’t for her.”

“I believe that a person’s true strength manifests when they’re doing something not for themselves, but for someone they care about. As long as you keep fighting to help others, you’ll be invincible.”

Sakura smiled. The girl smiled back.

“Whew, today is a scorcher! I’m going to take a dip in the river, would you like to join me?”

“I… don’t think that would be proper.”

“We’re both girls, what’s the problem?”

“Actually I’m a boy.”

Sakura froze, flabbergasted.


	3. Chapter 3

The genin of the Leaf patrolled the bridge during the day, making sure the constructors weren’t harassed by Gatoh’s men, then trained from late afternoon to middle of the night. A week passed without incidents, so in the morning of the seventh day Sakura asked to stay back in Tazuna’s house to use the herbs she’d been gathering early in the morning to make medicine. Seeing no problem in that, considering they hadn’t run into any trouble since the fight against Zabuza, Kakashi allowed her to stay.

She was startled by a scream coming from downstairs, immediately abandoning everything she was doing to check on Tsunami. When the kunoichi got there she saw Tazuna’s daughter on the floor, cornered by two men wielding katanas.

“You’re a hostage now, so come along quietly” one of them announced before unsheathing his sword “or we’ll have to get violent. We need you alive, not in one piece, so if you resist we’ll start chopping off body parts.”

“Tsunami-san!” Sakura called. The swordsmen turned around to face the Leaf ninja.

“Back off, girlie.” The other man said. “We only need her, so if you interfere we’ll cut you up into tiny—”

“Are you alright, Tsunami-san?” Sakura asked, kneeling beside the adult woman; in the blink of an eye she had moved past the men to check on her before he was even done talking.

“What the—” He swung his sword at her, but she raised a hand and blocked his attack with one kunai. Before his partner could join in, however, she had vanished alongside Tsunami. “She’s fast!”

“You may be able to frighten civilians by swinging your swords around” Sakura explained, suddenly standing right behind them “but a shinobi of the Leaf Village is not someone you can intimidate so easily.”

Without turning around they plunged their swords in Sakura’s stomach, but she simply disappeared in a cloud of smoke – the real Sakura was using chakra on her feet to stand on the ceiling. They dropped their guard for a second, surprised by what they had just witnessed, allowing Sakura to exploit that moment of carelessness; she jumped down, spinning in midair and hitting them in the back of their heads with the heels of her feet, knocking both of them out.

Sakura used a length of rope to tie them up before rushing upstairs and stuffing a bag with all the medicine she had made.

“Are you going to be ok, Tsunami-san?”

“Yes, thank you, Sakura-san.”

“They said they were going to take you hostage, Gatoh must be launching an assault on the bridge and they planned on using you to get my team to stand down. Please, take your son and go somewhere safe in case more of them come. If Kakashi-sensei is right and Zabuza is still alive, I have to help.”

Tsunami nodded before Sakura dashed out the front door that no longer existed due to the mercenaries cutting it down to make a flashy entrance. As she approached the destination, she could see that the entire bridge was covered in a thick fog. Recognizing Zabuza’s Hidden Mist Jutsu, she quickened her pace.

Using the water walking technique her sensei taught her, the pink-haired kunoichi ran towards the other end of the bridge where most workers were gathered and, by extension, her teammates, making it Zabuza’s most likely location and probably his masked sidekick’s as well. Using the wall running technique, she climbed onto the bridge where she found all the workers on the ground, wounded and most of them unconscious. Summoning a Shadow Clone, she handed it all the medicine she was carrying so that her other self could heal the men.

Despite being unable to see, she could hear her teammates fighting not far from her location; Naruto and Sasuke were trapped in a dome made of ice mirrors, covered in wounds and with needles sticking out of their bodies; they were still alive and standing, although a little winded. Kakashi was just outside of the icy prison, locked in combat with Zabuza while trying to keep him away from Tazuna. Naruto attempted to summon his chains one more time, but once again the masked ninja hiding in the mirrors prevented that from happening by throwing another senbon at him, breaking his concentration.

“It’s no use.” The fake Anbu said from within the mirror, holding three senbon on each hand. “You need a moment to gather enough chakra to use that jutsu. I will not give you the opportunity.”

“You’ll run out of needles eventually, I’ll just keep on trying until that happens!” Naruto concentrated his chakra one more time and so he threw another senbon, but this time he aimed at the back of the shinobi’s knee, causing him to lose his footing.

The masked boy, creating the perfect opportunity to take him out of the fight for good, threw many senbon at him, all at once. Before they pierced his body, however, Sasuke tackled Naruto out of the way, causing him to miss every needle he threw.

“I did it.” He said with a smirk, his once black eyes turned red with two tomoe circling around his right pupil and one around his left pupil. “I was finally able to see where the attack was coming from.”

“So you too have the Sharingan.”

“Sasuke!” A female voice coming from outside the dome called. “Catch!”

From within the thick fog, a kunai came flying towards the dome. Before Sasuke could receive the weapon, however, the ice shinobi came out of his mirror and grabbed it in midair.

“What were you trying to accomplish, giving him a weapon that will do him no good?”

The kunai suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke, revealing itself to be Sakura Haruno in disguise with him grabbing her by the ankle. Clenching her fist, she delivered a powerful punch to his face that shattered his mask before connecting with his cheek.

“I didn’t shout to get his attention, I wanted to get yours, so thank you for—” Sakura’s eyes widened and her cocky smirk vanished when she was able to see the face of the person she just punched: it was the same boy she thought was a girl and had met while gathering herbs in the woods just a couple of days prior. “Y-You?”

Taking advantage of her moment of hesitation, the boy named Haku stabbed her arm with his senbon before tossing her down. Thankfully Sasuke was able to grab her before she hit the ground.

“It was you all along?”

“It’s like I told you, Sakura-san.” He explained as he sunk back into his ice mirror. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to help the man who saved my life.”

“You know this guy?” Sasuke asked as he set her down. With a grunt of discomfort, she pulled the three senbon out of her arm and tossed them aside.

“We’ve met. Briefly. Under less… hostile circumstances.”

Haku threw another senbon, but Sakura quickly summoned a Shadow Clone that took the hit for her.

“Great, now the three of us are trapped in here with him.” Naruto said as he got up with some effort.

“Look on the bright side, Naruto.” Sakura told him. “Now he has three targets to keep track of. All of us working as a team will be able to defeat him.”

“Don’t underestimate me.” Zabuza’s sidekick said as his reflection spread to the other ice mirrors, all of them holding more senbon.

“How many needles do you have?!” The redheaded boy shouted.

“Naruto, your chains!” Sakura ordered.

“But he won’t let me.”

“I’ll cover you, now do it.”

Naruto began concentrating his chakra, which took more effort than usual due to his wounds and exhaustion, and Haku threw senbon at him as expected. Acting quickly, Sakura summoned several Shadow Clones that formed a human shield around the Uzumaki boy, giving him just enough time to create his chakra chains.

“Sorry about that, Sakura-chan. I know they’re just clones, but still…” He apologized as the chains pierced through the bodies of the clones before heading straight for the mirrors.

There wasn’t much Haku could do other than escape as the chains shattered each and every one of the ice constructs. Sasuke was already there when the Mist boy’s feet touched the ground, and so the Uchiha boy spin kicked him in the back, sending him flying towards his teammates. Naruto then wrapped his chains around his entire body except for his head, completely restraining his movements.

“No more one-handed jutsu for you!” He said as the sharp tips of his chakra chains pressed themselves against Haku’s neck – an unnecessary precaution, seeing how he wasn’t even struggling.

“Go ahead.” The unmasked boy said. “Kill me.”

“Uh, no!” Naruto replied. “Why would we—”

“I am but Zabuza-san’s weapon. The moment you defeated me, I outlived my usefulness. A weapon that cannot be wielded is worthless. So please, kill me.”

Much like his accomplice, Zabuza had also been immobilized, not with chains but held in place by the Ninja Hounds summoned by Kakashi.

“I’ll show you an original technique of mine, not something I copied with the Sharingan.” After doing a number of hand seals, electricity began gathering at the palm of Kakashi’s hand, which began to spread until it covered his hand entirely. “Your target is a man who brings courage to this country. With that courage, he is building a bridge that will bring hope. Your mission will ruin the lives of too many people, I cannot allow you to continue.”

The Leaf jonin rushed towards the Mist rogue ninja, piercing his chest with his Lightning Blade. With their purpose fulfilled, Kakashi’s Ninja Hounds vanished as soon as his hand made contact with Zabuza’s body, preventing them from being harmed by his jutsu.

“You… bested me… Kakashi… of the Sharingan…” Those were Zabuza Momochi’s last words as his life came to an end.

The three genin plus their prisoner approached the scene as the fog cleared. Haku had a shocked and saddened expression in his face, but he bit his lip and said nothing.

“Looks like he failed his job. What a disappointment.” An unfamiliar voice came from within the fog, but the owner of said voice was revealed fairly quickly once the fog summoned by Zabuza started to clear up. “But good for me. The plan was to axe him after he tired himself out fighting you people then deliver his head to the Mist Village and collect the bounty, but now I don’t need to order my men to deal with him.”

Standing not far from them was a short man in a business suit wearing sunglasses and holding a walking cane, his left arm in a cast: the founder of the Gatoh Company, Gatoh himself. Behind him stood a large number of men (Sakura counted at least twenty) armed with weapons ranging from knives to halberds.

“But he got himself killed before finishing the job, now he’s dead and you’re still in my way. You’re not getting out of here with your lives.”

“Naruto-san.” Haku called. “Zabuza-san is dead, I have no reason to fight you anymore. If you’re going to fight Gatoh’s men, you’re going to need your chakra chains, right?”

Naruto looked at his sensei for instructions, who nodded back at him. With permission given, Naruto’s chains ceased to be and Zabuza’s former living weapon was free once more. Without wasting a single second, Haku rushed towards Gatoh and grabbed his right arm, the one he didn’t break.

“What the…? Let go of me, you piece of—” Gatoh ordered.

“You lied to Zabuza-san.” Haku accused. “He worked for you until he drew his last breath, and you never intended to pay him for the job in the first place. That is an insult to the man I admire.” A sickening _crunch_ was heard and Gatoh screamed in pain as Haku broke his other arm.

“MEN!” Gatoh shouted. His mercenaries roared as they advanced towards Haku, pointing their weapons at him, but he was faster. Using his free hand to make one-handed seals, he summoned massive spikes of ice from the ocean that burst through the bridge, sending them all flying into the water below and leaving only Gatoh behind, whose confident demeanor vanished immediately once he no longer had a small army of thugs backing him up.

“I’m sorry, Tazuna-san.” Haku said. “I damaged the bridge you and your men were working so hard to build. I promise I’ll make up for it.” The spikes proceeded to melt until all that was left were the holes in the bridge. “As for you…”

Gatoh’s broken arm still in Haku’s grip froze solid. The ice quickly spread to the rest of his body and the corrupt magnate kept screaming until his entire body was completely frozen. Zabuza’s sidekick dragged the frozen man over to the side of the bridge and tossed him into the ocean, watching as the current carried him away. Fearing for their lives, Gatoh’s men swam away in a panic.

Haku disliked killing people but, as far as he was concerned, the life he took didn’t belong to a person.

“What now, Kakashi of the Sharingan?” He turned to face the jonin with a neutral expression.

“Me?” Kakashi asked. Haku nodded.

“You took the life of the man who owned mine, that means it belongs to you now.” Haku took a knee in front of him. “I am your weapon.”

“Again with this talk of weapon?” Naruto asked. “I told you, you are a human being capable of making your own choices! Zabuza was a bad man who made bad things and made you do bad things for him too, but you’re free now!”

“It’s not that simple, Naruto.” Sakura interrupted. “Zabuza took him in when no one else would and gave him a reason to live. He feels like he owes Zabuza everything, and it’s not the words of some stranger that are going to change his mind.”

“What do you mean, Sakura-chan?”

* * *

_“Just stop, Sakura! I am not your savior, your beacon or your guiding light; I am your friend, not some goddess that you’re supposed to worship and look up to.”_

_“B-But Ino-senpai…”_

_“And stop calling me that! We are in the same class, for goodness sake!”_

_Sakura looked down, crestfallen. Ino sighed before placing her hand on Sakura’s chin and lifting her head so she could look her in the eye._

_“Remember what I told you all those years ago, Sakura? You are a beautiful little bud. And buds can’t bloom if they grow in the shadows.”_

_“I-Ino-sen—” She took a deep breath. “Ino…”_

_“I don’t want you to stick to my shadow all your life. You must forge your own path in life and become your own kunoichi.” She grinned. “Who knows, you might even surpass the legendary Tsunade-sama one day!”_

* * *

“I know exactly what he’s feeling. You always had your mom, Naruto, so you don’t know what it’s like to be alone, abandoned, with nowhere to go. Everything feels empty – even if you try to act like everything is fine, there is always that pit in your stomach that you want to fill but you don’t know how to. And that’s because it’s not a hole you can fill by yourself.”

Sasuke clenched his fist, but soon relaxed it; he wanted to disagree with Sakura so badly, to tell her that she was wrong and that nothing could fill the void that consumed him from the inside, but he had to admit that, at least for a time, he looked forward to Kushina Uzumaki’s visits, happy to have company in his large, empty house before he started to deliberately avoid her, afraid that getting too attached to her would just result in another heartache. So he held his tongue.

“Then someone offers you a hand, and that gesture changes everything; that one person who made you feel like you belonged suddenly becomes the most important person in the universe and you don’t ever want to let go – you’d do anything to earn their approval so that they’ll stay by your side forever, because you fear that if you disappoint them even once they’ll leave you behind and not look back.”

“Sakura-chan…”

“I’ve been where you are. I understand you.”

Haku’s mask of stoicism cracked and tears flowed freely.

“Wh-What am I supposed to do now?” He asked between sobs. “Z-Zabuza-san was everything to me, and now he’s… he’s…”

Sakura kneeled in front of the boy and hugged him. Nothing was said, Haku just returned the hug and cried on her shoulder until he calmed down.

“Don’t give up.” She told him once he stopped crying. “This world is filled with good people, you’ll find someone who will make you feel wanted in a place where you’ll feel like you belong. You just have to keep moving forward, one day at a time.”

* * *

Despite Zabuza and Gatoh being both dead, Team 7’s mission was still to protect the workers until construction of the bridge was finished, and that’s what they did. True to his word, Haku made up to Tazuna for damaging the bridge by helping them finish building it – he may have been young and short for someone his age, but he was strong. With Kakashi’s permission, he buried Zabuza and used his giant sword to mark his grave, a place he visited every morning before going to work with the construction crew, who healed up nicely thanks to Sakura’s medicine.

“Thanks to you, the bridge was finally finished.” Tazuna said, bowing to Team 7 alongside all the other construction workers. “We’re very grateful.”

“Have a safe trip back home.” Tsunami said. “We’ll miss you.”

“I hope we’ll cross paths again someday.” Haku said, also bowing – he once again had his beautiful black hair down and wore the same pink yukata from when he met Sakura in the woods.

“So you’re staying, then?” Sakura asked.

Haku nodded. “This country and its people suffered greatly because of Zabuza-san’s employer and, by extension, because of me as well. I want to help them get back on their feet in any way I can, as a way to make up for the harm I’ve caused. Helping them finish this bridge was just the first step, there is much more I can and want to do.” His smile widened. “Besides, it’s not a bad place to call home. I feel… comfortable here. I’ll stick around, at least for a while.”

Smiling back at Haku, Sakura hugged him.

“Come visit sometime, ok?”

Waving back at the villagers, Team 7 crossed the bridge that would be known as The Great Kaiza Bridge back to the mainland.

Naruto smirked at Sakura. “You like him, don’t you?”

The kunoichi blushed. “S-Stop saying stupid things, Naruto!”

“I guess I’ll just have to work extra hard to earn your affection.”

“I-I don’t like him, shut up! And I’ll never like you either, so give up already!”

* * *

“You definitely have a crush on him.” Ino accused with a smile on her face before pinching Sakura’s cheek. “My little Sakura-chan is growing up so fast!”

“Why do people keep saying that?” Sakura complained, slapping Ino’s hand away from her face.

“Because it’s the truth, you’re the only one who can’t see it. Either that or you’re lying to yourself, and I don’t know which is worse.”

Sakura sighed as she rubbed her temples. “I should go, Kakashi-sensei called for a team meeting at 8 AM.”

“Uh, it’s already 10.”

“I know. And I’ll still be there before him.”

“Your sensei is weird. But don’t think this conversation is over, Sakura Haruno, we _are_ going to talk about your future husband some more later on.”

She groaned in frustration.

After saying their goodbyes, the two best friends went their separate ways. It didn’t take long for Sakura to reach their meeting place, a bridge over one of the many distributaries of the river that crossed the Leaf Village; just as Sakura expected, Naruto and Sasuke were there, but Kakashi wasn’t. She greeted them, to which Naruto replied with a very energetic greeting of his own. Sasuke didn’t say anything, but nodded in her direction, which was more than she expected from him.

The next hour was spent in silence, with Sakura reading one of her books, Naruto doing squats and Sasuke lost in thought. Kakashi finally decided to grace them with his presence a few minutes past 11 AM.

“Sorry, sorry, I stopped to help a lady carry her groceries.” He gave one of his usual excuses that not one of them bought even once.

“Tell me, Kakashi-sensei, when are we going to get another mission like the one in the Land of Waves?” Naruto asked, ready for some more excitement. “D-rank missions are too simple and the few C-rank missions we’re getting are nothing special either.”

“First of all, you need to be promoted to chunin; that mission was mistakenly labeled as C-rank due to Tazuna-san’s omissions.” Kakashi explained. “Speaking of which, I asked you all to come here so I can inform you that I nominated the three of you for the Chunin Selection Exam. Here, these are your applications.” He handed a piece of paper to each of them with their name written on it and signed by Kakashi.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Naruto cheered as he proceeded to read the document. “Thanks a lot, Kakashi-sensei.”

“Of course, I’m not forcing you to; if you wish to participate, sign that, go to the academy and take it to Room 301 by 4 PM tomorrow. If you do, be in that same room by 3 PM six days from now. If you don’t feel ready just yet, there is always the next exam. That is all.”

“You made us wait three hours just for that?” Sakura asked, eyebrow raised.

“You’ve only been here for one hour.” Sasuke reminded her.

She shot him an icy glare. “That’s beside the point, Sasuke.”

Kakashi scratched his head. “It would have been too troublesome to track all of you down and explain the same thing three times. It’s easier for me this way. Dismissed.” He vanished in a cloud of smoke before Sakura could bother him any further.

They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, all three of them going back to their respective houses to grab an ink bottle and a brush to sign their names on their applications. After dropping off their documents at Room 301, Sakura went straight to Training Ground #3 while Naruto, with permission from his mother, went to Ramen Ichikaru to order a bowl in celebration. Sasuke, on the other hand, went somewhere unusual.

“Just a second!” Kushina responded after hearing a knock on the door. She abandoned the dishes she was washing and dried her hands on her apron before opening her door, only to be surprised by the person standing there. “Sasuke-chan! It’s been a while, I never catch you at home anymore. Ninja life keeping you busy?”

Sasuke scratched his nose, not looking directly at her. “Something like that. I just… wanted to tell you that I’m doing fine, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“Oh, Sasuke-chan.” She wrapped her arms around him – Sasuke didn’t return the hug, but he didn’t push her away either. “Your mom was like a sister to me. You’re family as far as I’m concerned and I’ll never stop caring about you.”

“Y-Yeah… I need to go, I haven’t delivered my application yet.”

“For the Chunin Exam, right? Of course.” Kushina let go of him and he started walking down the street with both hands in his pockets. “Thanks for stopping by, Sasuke-chan. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask me.”

He turned his head around as he walked, looking at Kushina who smiled and waved at him; a faint smile appeared in the corner of his lip.

“And please, watch my boy’s back. He gets tunnel vision when he focuses on something really hard and forgets to watch his flanks.”

Sasuke simply nodded once.

* * *

Six days passed and Sakura was the first member of Team 7 to arrive. She sat on the swing to wait for her other teammates and watched as other genin entered the building, including Ino – Sakura waved at her and the blonde waved back before going inside with her teammates. Sasuke arrived second, once again acknowledging Sakura with just a nod before pressing his back to the tree the swing was hanging from. Naruto arrived soon after and they all went inside together.

There was a commotion going on in front of Room 301; two disgruntled genin were blocking the way, but Sasuke and Sakura saw through the genjutsu, revealing that Room 301 was in fact Room 201. A boy with black hair and bushy eyebrows wearing a green jumpsuit and with his red cloth Leaf Village headband serving as a belt approached Sakura.

“My name is Rock Lee!” He introduced himself, a hint of pink on his cheeks. “Your name is Sakura, right?”

“Yes?”

He gave her a wide smile and a thumbs up. “Sakura-san, please go out with me! I promise I’ll protect you with my life!”

Naruto laughed. “Sorry, buddy, but she’s already going out with me.”

A wave of depression suddenly hit Lee. “Oh, you’re already dating someone?”

Sakura squeezed Naruto’s face and pushed him away from her. “Absolutely not!”

Naruto shrugged, his smile never leaving his face. “She’s going to. Eventually.”

Lee’s youth and cheerfulness returned to him. “So I still have a chance.”

Sasuke, who chose to not get involved, was approached by Rock Lee’s teammates, Neji Hyuuga and Tenten. After some words were exchanged, they proceeded to the real Room 301.

On their way there, Sasuke was challenged to a fight by Rock Lee. Believing he could win by using his recently-awakened Sharingan, Sasuke accepted the challenge, but Lee proved himself way beyond Sasuke’s level, defeating him without receiving a single blow. The fight was eventually interrupted by Lee’s sensei, a man who looked almost exactly like an older version of him except wearing a flak jacket.

Room 301 was filled with dozens of genin of all ages from several different villages, including some familiar faces.

“Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, what took you so long?” Ino asked as she stood between the two boys of Team 7 and pulled both of them into a hug. A mildly annoyed Sasuke chose to ignore her, but Naruto wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Long time no see, Ino-chan.” He greeted. Sasuke used the distraction to escape from Ino’s grasp. Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, Ino’s teammates, joined them.

“H-Hello, Sakura-san.” A meek voice greeted. Looking around for its source, Sakura spotted the smaller girl standing not far from her.

“Hello, um… Konata?” Sakura greeted/asked.

“It’s, um… Hi-Hinata. Hinata Hyuuga.” She corrected the pink-haired kunoichi, looking down while twiddling her thumbs.

“Right, I’m sorry. Can I help you with something?” Sakura didn’t mean to sound dismissive, she was just curious; the Hyuuga girl never interacted with her back when they were students, and suddenly she approached her like they were old friends meeting after a long time. It felt a little unusual.

“Um… We-Well, not… not exactly, I… j-just wanted to… say hi.” She trailed off as she spoke – the last few words were barely a whisper.

“Is she bothering you, Hinata?” Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata’s teammate, approached the two of them with a white puppy perched on top of his head. Shino Aburame, their sunglasses-wearing teammate, was not far behind.

“K-Kiba-kun! N-N-No, we were just… t-talking.”

“Well look at that, all of the rookies are here.” Kiba pointed out upon noticing the members of Team 10. “Together again, finally. Now we can show you how hard we trained.” He pointed his finger at Team 7. “People may call you this year’s top 3, but that title won’t belong to you for long. Shino, Hinata and I have gotten much stronger and we’ll prove it by defeating you.”

“Excuse me, you guys.” A slightly older, silver-haired genin also from the Leaf Village called as he approached them. “Maybe you should try being a little quieter.”

His name was Kabuto Yakushi and he explained to them that all the other genin were very tense so, by standing out like that before the exam even began, they were making themselves targets. Seemingly out of the goodness of his heart and a genuine desire to help his “underclassmen”, Kabuto whipped out a stack of blank cards he called Ninja Info Cards, which contained information he gathered on the exam itself and many of its participants that were only revealed when he exposed the cards to his chakra.

Sasuke approached Kabuto, asking for information on two individuals: Rock Lee and Gaara – a genin from the Sand Village none of them met before, so they assumed Sasuke had met him on his own at some point in the past few days – which the more experienced genin happily provided.

“Kabuto-senpai, can you tell me if any of the people participating in this Chunin Exam have the last name ‘Uzumaki’?” Naruto asked.

“Your name is Uzumaki, isn’t it, Naruto-kun?” Kabuto inquired. “Looking for a family member in particular?”

“No one in particular, just any family member I can find.” The red-haired genin explained with a big smile. “My dream is to restore the Uzumaki clan, and for that dream to become reality I’ll need to find as many members as I can!”

“Then I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you’re the only Uzumaki here.”

“What about bright red hair like mine?”

“Hm… There’s Gaara, but you already know all the info I have on him and I highly doubt he’s secretly a descendant of the Uzumaki. Other than him, there’s only one more.”

“Really? Who is it?”

Kabuto drew another card from the deck, which contained the image of a girl around the same age as the nine rookies; she had bright red hair and wore glasses, as well as a Grass Village headband.

“Her name is Karin, no last name on record. I don’t have much intel on her, other than this is her first Chunin Exam as well.”

“Thanks a bunch, Kabuto-senpai!” Naruto thanked him as he rushed into the crowd of genin, looking for the redheaded girl. It took him a moment, but he finally spotted a hint of red hair sitting at a desk with her back turned to him. “Hey! Karin-san!”

Startled, the Grass Village kunoichi nearly jumped out of her seat before frantically looking around for the person calling her name in a foreign country. She turned around and spotted the Leaf genin waving at her as he approached her location. “A-Are you talking to me?”

“Your name is Karin-san, right?” She nodded. “Are you an Uzumaki?”

Her crimson red eyes widened and her blood froze. “M-My mom said we’re not supposed to call ourselves that anymore…”

Naruto raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Hey, pepper boy, why don’t you leave us alone and go back to your own team?” One of Karin’s teammates suggested, stepping between her and Naruto and placing a hand on his chest to push him away.

“I just wanted to talk—” Naruto started, but was promptly interrupted.

“I don’t care what you want, our team is none of your business, now back off!”

“Quiet down, you worthless punks!” A shout echoed throughout Room 301 as a cloud of smoke erupted at the front of the classroom that, once dissipated, revealed a heavily scarred man wearing a black trench coat accompanied by several other people, all of them wearing the Leaf Village headband. “Thank you for your patience. My name is Ibiki Morino and I’ll be the examiner for the first test of the Chunin Selection Exam.”

After making the participants take numbers that would dictate where they would seat, thus ensuring that most if not all teammates would be separated, the special jonin Ibiki explained how the first test would work:

It was an hour-long written test containing ten questions, but instead of earning points by giving the correct answer, they already started out with ten points. They would lose one point for each question answered incorrectly, and two points if they were caught cheating. If one member of the team had all ten points deducted, all three would fail the exam and be asked to leave or forced to if they refused.

Naruto attempted to flirt with Hinata, who was sitting right next to him, but for some reason she was the only girl in class other than Sakura who seemed immune to his charm; he had yet to decide if that made him want to give up on her or try harder like he did with Sakura.

All the participants were surprised once the test started; all ten questions were way too advanced for shinobi of their level, making it impossible for most of them to answer even a single question correctly. The tenth question, however, was absent; the test only contained a note explaining it would be revealed 45 minutes after the test started.

_“Piece of cake!”_ Sakura, who wasn’t “most of them”, thought as she read the questions one by one with a smirk on her face – she was definitely able to answer them all correctly. _“I don’t know about Sasuke and Naruto, though… Let’s hope for the best.”_

Sasuke, understanding that the true nature of the test was not to assess their knowledge but their ability to gather information without getting caught, activated his Sharingan to copy somebody else’s hand movements as they wrote down the answers.

Naruto had full control over his Adamantine Chains, which included making them smaller than a hair strand if he wanted to, nearly invisible to the naked eye but much weaker than the thicker chains he frequently used in combat. Naruto used that ability to trace every letter Hinata wrote down in her test so he could pull the chains back and read the words they had shaped themselves like before writing it all down in his own test.

Ino, fully aware that her pink-haired best friend located just a few seats in front of her was perfectly capable of answering all questions correctly, thought about targeting her with her Mind Transfer Jutsu so she could memorize and copy all the answers, but chose not to out of respect for their friendship. After spotting another candidate writing with the speed of someone confident that the answer was correct, she targeted him.

Once the 45 minutes were up, Ibiki explained that the tenth question was optional. Those who chose not to answer it would be allowed to leave. Those who stayed, however, would have to answer correctly otherwise their points would be reduced to zero and they would never be allowed to participate in another Chunin Exam ever again. Once all people willing to quit left the room with their teammates, only 48 genin were left.

“Anybody else? No? Very well. To all of you who decided to risk it all and answer the tenth question, I’d like to say… congratulations, you all pass!”

Ibiki then proceeded to explain the true nature of the first test, which was indeed information gathering as Sasuke surmised, and the chunin who had snuck among the genin so they could be targeted revealed themselves.

Once the examiner was done explaining, a Leaf Village special jonin crashed through the window, using two kunai to hang a banner from the ceiling with the words _Second Examiner Anko Mitarashi Is Here_ written on it.

“Now’s not the time to celebrate. My name is Anko Mitarashi, I am the examiner for the second test of the Chunin Selection Exam. We’re doing the second test now, so follow me!”

“You’re too hasty, Anko.” Ibiki said to her. “The second test is tomorrow.”

“Y-Yes, of course, I knew that, it was just a… a test, yes. An unofficial test, and you all pass.” Such was the flimsy excuse the very flustered Anko came up with as she surveyed the classroom. “Sixteen teams left, huh? That’s way too many. You’re losing your touch, Morino.”

“It appears that there are some very talented shinobi taking the Chunin Exam this time around.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” Anko’s lips slowly curled up into a wicked grin. “At least half of them will fail my exam anyway.”

The remaining genin returned to their houses or hotel rooms so they could rest for the night. In the morning, the jonin in charge of their teams directed them to a fenced-off forest located in the outskirts of the Leaf Village known as Training Ground #44, but commonly referred to as the Forest of Death.

Proctor Anko explained to the sixteen remaining teams that their goal was to reach the tower in the very center of the forest while carrying both the dark blue Earth Scroll and the white Heaven Scroll, which would be given to the participating teams once they signed consent forms that would exempt Anko from all responsibility in case they got killed. If a teammate died or was left behind, the remaining members would be disqualified. They were also strictly forbidden from opening the scrolls before entering the tower. The time limit was 120 hours, exactly five days, starting the moment the gates were opened.

All teams signed the forms and were given a scroll in exchange. Team 7 received the Heaven Scroll and picked Gate 12 to wait in front of before the second exam started. After 30 minutes passed and all genin were given scrolls, the chunin standing guard unlocked the gate and they were allowed entrance. They quickly dashed inside the forest, jumping from branch to branch.

“So what’s the plan?” Naruto asked while they moved.

“We’ll move as far away from the main gate as we can.” Sasuke instructed. “When we stop to rest, Naruto, you’ll activate your Adamantine Chains and keep them hidden underground in case we’re attacked – that way you won’t be made a target while you activate it like what happened in the Land of Waves. Meanwhile Sakura will send some Shadow Clones disguised as animals to patrol the area and warn us if they spot anything. Understood?”

Sakura agreed. Naruto wasn’t happy taking orders from Sasuke but still complied, keeping in mind Kakashi-sensei’s words from back when Team 7 was first formed. They kept going for a few more hours, keeping their eyes peeled in case trouble came after them. Naruto did as instructed and buried his chakra chains underground the moment they landed on a clearing, sitting on the ground with his back pressed to a large tree to hide the chains sprouting from his body. Sakura summoned a dozen different Shadow Clones who ran in different directions before using the Transformation Jutsu to disguise themselves as lizards, birds and other small critters. Sasuke gathered chakra on his feet and climbed the tree Naruto was sitting in front of so he could keep watch from a vantage point with kunai in hand.

“Hey, Sakura-chan!” Naruto called. “We don’t have blankets or anything, so spending the night here is gonna be pretty cold, right?”

“What’s your point?” Sakura shouldn’t have asked, she knew what was about to follow was another cheesy pickup line that would make her groan, roll her eyes and tell him to shut up, but somewhere deep inside of her brain there was a small part that was slightly curious and wanted to know how he would spin the fact that they were locked in a dangerous forest for five whole days into something “romantic”.

“When night falls, you can cuddle up with me when we go to sleep if you want to; I promise I’ll keep you safe and warm.”

Sakura groaned and pressed her hands to her face. “Naruto, do us all— No, do **me** a huge favor and shut the hell up.”

Sasuke screamed. Startled, the two of them looked up just in time to see the third member of their team falling from the tree. Acting quickly, Sakura jumped up and grabbed him before he crashed on the ground – a fall from that high up would certainly be fatal. They looked up one more time, but there was nothing there. Inspecting Sasuke’s body, she didn’t find any wounds on him other than a bruise on his left eyebrow that leaked a little bit of blood, but nothing serious.

Sasuke grunted in pain and got back up, looking around with his kunai ready to strike.

“We’ve got company!” He warned before a long-haired shinobi from the Grass Village made himself known by crawling out of a hole in the ground, licking his lips with his freakishly long tongue.

Naruto made the first move and his chains sprouted from the ground around the Grass genin, but he was much faster than the Uzumaki anticipated and stepped out of the trap before Naruto had the chance to restrain him.

“My turn.” He said as he performed hand seals. “Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!”

Their foe blew air out of his mouth, which was amplified greatly by the jutsu and blew them away with the force of a tornado. Naruto managed to hold on thanks to his chains, but there was nothing Sasuke or Sakura could hang on to and the wind jutsu sent both of them flying.

“Sakura-chan! Sasuke!” Naruto called as he extended a pair of chains toward them, but they weren’t able to grab them in time and disappeared in the foliage. “Damn you, you—” Naruto was about to insult the Grass ninja, but the only thing left where he once stood was a hole in the dirt.

“You’re not the one I’m after.” He heard the mysterious ninja’s voice echo throughout the clearing, but he was nowhere to be found.

Naruto kept his guard up, waiting for the Grass Village shinobi to strike, but he never came back. There was only silence.

He cursed under his breath and dispelled his chakra chains, but kept two wrapped around his arms under his sleeves just in case. He then took off towards the direction his teammates flew.


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura jumped to her feet immediately after waking up, assuming a combat pose despite the fact she was still a little dazed. She looked around for her teammates, but none of them were in sight. Next she inspected her body for wounds or anything out of place, but other than a few cuts and scrapes she seemed fine, nothing broken. Afterwards the kunoichi checked her hip pouch to make sure everything was still in order, sighing in relief when confirming that nothing was missing.

“ _Sasuke?_ ” She whispered, afraid of giving away her location in case other genin were nearby. “ _Naruto?_ ”

No response. She sighed in frustration as reality slowly sunk in: she was alone. Keeping her cool, Sakura dispelled the clones she had spread out earlier, absorbing their memories one by one. Unfortunately none of them had seen her teammates, so she sent two dozen disguised clones – half of them to search for Naruto and Sasuke and the other half to scout ahead and patrol her surroundings, dispelling themselves to warn her in case she was about to cross paths with other shinobi.

Sticking to the shadows and finding cover whenever one of her clones warned her of incoming danger, Sakura moved further into the forest. She had attempted to return to the clearing they fought the Grass ninja, hoping to find at least Naruto, but a clone warned her that unknown shinobi had gathered there and her red-haired teammate was nowhere to be seen. When night fell, Sakura took shelter underneath the exposed roots of a large tree. Covering herself with leaves in an attempt to camouflage herself, she did her best to get some rest.

Far from her location, Ino Yamanaka nursed an unconscious Sasuke Uchiha while her teammates Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara stood by their side. They had spotted a Grass Village ninja with a half-melted face carrying him away, but Anko Mitarashi showed up and attacked the man, forcing him to let go of Sasuke and ordering Team 10 to take him away from there without looking back.

“Nothing.” Shikamaru announced as he dropped Sasuke’s hip pouch. “If he had the scroll, then it was already stolen.”

“Seriously, Shikamaru?” Ino questioned as she pressed a wet cloth to her feverish unconscious crush’s forehead. “Sasuke-kun is suffering and you have the guts to try and pickpocket him?”

“I don’t know what happened back there, but like it or not, we’re still in the Chunin Exam and our goal is to pass.” He looked away from them and into the forest. “That woman just told us to take him somewhere safe, not to nurse him back to health. Until this exam is over we’re technically enemies, why are we wasting our time on him?”

“I don’t care if we’re opponents, Sasuke-kun is still one of us! If you think I’ll just abandon him to die, you’re mistaken.”

“‘One of us’? Be honest, Ino, if it was Kiba or someone else you weren’t crushing on you would have abandoned him hours ago.” Shikamaru sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. “I just hope we don’t get roped into anything troublesome.”

Choosing to ignore her teammate’s comment, Ino used a different cloth to clean the bite mark on Sasuke’s neck just below a symbol shaped like three tomoe, not unlike the Sharingan.

* * *

Sakura woke up with a jolt. At some point in the middle of the night she managed to fall asleep, and thankfully her hiding spot wasn’t discovered by other shinobi or some wild beast living in the Forest of Death. Unfortunately she was still alone and went to bed before finding anything to eat, so on top of it all she was also starving. Tying her kunai to a branch, she walked to the nearby river to see if she could use her makeshift spear to catch some fish.

She only lit a fire after she had caught something to cook, afraid the smoke would give away her location. She extinguished the fire as soon as the fish was ready and ate it as she ran. One of her disguised clones dissipated, warning the original that someone was approaching her from behind. She quickly turned around, retrieved a handful of shuriken from her pouch and threw them.

“Whoa!” A girl from the Leaf Village cried as she dodged the incoming weapons. She landed on a branch not far from the one Sakura stood on, unharmed but with a tear on the side of her pink qipao blouse caused by one of the shuriken. “And here I thought I was being sneaky. Nice one.”

Sakura grabbed her kunai and assumed a fighting stance while she studied the girl’s appearance: she didn’t know her, but her brown hair styled into two buns looked familiar. She thought about it for a moment and remembered her standing next to Rock Lee in front of Room 201.

“You’re in the same team as that Lee guy, aren’t you?” She asked.

“And you’re Sakura-san, from the same team as those two cute boys.” She replied with a smile as she retrieved a scroll from her hip pouch. “I’m Tenten, nice to meet you. What scroll did your team get?”

“What makes you think I’ll just tell you?”

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll just take it from you.” Tenten opened her scroll, revealing several seals drawn on it. “If it’s the one we want, good. If not, I’ll just look somewhere else.”

Sakura reached into her pouch and retrieved the Heaven Scroll. “Is this what you want?”

The eyes of the more experienced kunoichi lit up. “That’s the one!”

Sakura tossed it in Tenten’s direction, who eagerly reached for it as it flew toward her. The scroll, however, was engulfed in a cloud of white smoke, revealing that it was actually a Shadow Clone in disguise. The bottom of her sandal connected with the older genin’s face in an attempt to kick her off the tree. Tenten acted fast and grabbed the branch, preventing her fall.

“That was sneaky!” She shouted, but the original Sakura was nowhere to be seen. “Where did you go?!”

Sakura used the distraction to flee, but Tenten quickly caught up to her. The girl was an expert in sealing jutsu, using that skill to seal many different weapons in her scroll. She retrieved a kunai and tossed it at Sakura, stabbing her in the left arm.

“Running away will do you no good.” She warned. “My aim is perfect.”

But Sakura ignored the warning, choosing to keep running. She removed the blade stuck to her arm and threw it back at her assailant, hitting the branch she had landed on.

“You miss—” Tenten was about to say, but the sizzling sound warned her of what had just happened: Sakura had wrapped an explosive tag on the handle of the weapon before throwing it back, and the resulting explosion destroyed the branch. Tenten jumped back on the last second, avoiding any damage.

Sakura stopped for a moment, leaning against a tree to catch her breath, which proved to be a mistake; two shuriken connected to each other by a wire were tossed at the tree, trapping her torso and upper arms in place. Another pair followed, trapping her waist and wrists, and a third one trapping her legs.

Tenten landed on the branch with a sickle on her right hand and the same scroll from before on her left one. She then walked towards Sakura.

“Nice trick. Too bad it didn’t work.”

She heard a hissing sound and looked to the side, spotting a brown snake hanging from a nearby branch. That snake, however, turned out to be another Sakura clone in disguise who reverted to her original form and attempted to punch the girl, but Tenten blocked just in time.

Sakura managed to free herself while the weapons expert was distracted. With a kunai in hand, she rushed after her. Tenten quickly turned around and used the clone as a human shield before retaliating with a kick to the gut that sent Sakura flying. The younger kunoichi, using the tree she was flying towards as a foothold, jumped back towards Tenten, who blocked the kunai with her sickle. She kept trying to stab Tenten, but the more experienced genin easily blocked all attacks and managed to land some cuts.

Tenten grew bored of that little game and sent the kunai flying from Sakura’s grasp with a parry, leaving her unarmed.

“Last chance. Hand over the scroll and I’ll leave you alone, I promise.”

Sakura took a deep breath before doing a series of hand seals in quick succession. She then raised her hands, which were glowing blue. She rushed the hair buns girl, who jumped back in an attempt to avoid whatever Sakura was trying to do, managing only to touch the top of her foot. When she landed, Tenten felt pain on the spot she had been touched.

“Are those Chakra Scalpels?” She asked.

“You’re familiar with medical ninjutsu?” Sakura asked back.

“Kinda. When I was younger I looked up to Tsunade-sama and wanted to be just like her, but I quickly realized I had no talent for that kind of stuff, so I just focused on the things I was actually good at.” She opened the scroll even further, revealing more seals. “Mainly weapons and sealing jutsu.”

She tossed the scroll up in the air. Sakura kept her eyes on it, preparing herself for whatever was about to happen. That, however, turned out to be a distraction as Tenten retrieved a piece of paper from her pouch which contained a single seal. After activating it, multiple shuriken flew out of the paper and towards Sakura, who had no time to do anything other than use her arms to protect her face and chest. She fell on her back, clenching her teeth so she wouldn’t scream in pain.

“The scroll.” Tenten demanded as her own weapons scroll she tossed up landed on her open hand.

“Sorry.” Sakura said between pained grunts. “Don’t have it.”

“Like I’m going to believe that. I’ll take it myself, then.” Tenten walked towards Sakura, but stopped when a third kunoichi landed between the two with a kunai in hand.

“L-L-Leave her alone!” Hinata demanded, but due to her meek tone it sounded more like a desperate plea.

“You’re Neji’s cousin, aren’t you?” Tenten pondered for a moment, but then sighed in defeat and dropped her sickle before furling her scroll back up. “There’s no way I can defeat a Hyuuga in one-on-one combat. See you, Sakura-san.” With that said, she left.

“A-Are you okay, Sakura-san?” Hinata asked as she kneeled before her former classmate.

“Why… Ugh… Why did you help me?”

“I-I-I saw you in trouble a-and wanted to help.”

“Then c-can you… tch… can you pull these out for me, please?”

She hesitated a little at first, but eventually helped Sakura remove the shuriken stabbed in her arms. A little bit of blood leaked from the wounds, but didn’t seem serious.

“I-I have bandages if you—”

“No, it’s ok.” It took a little bit of effort due to the pain on her arms, but Sakura managed to do a few hand seals that caused her hands to glow green. She then touched the wounds on her arms one by one, sealing the cuts; if it wasn’t for the blood, nobody would be able to tell she been wounded before. Hinata watched in awe.

“I-Is that…?”

“Healing Palm Jutsu.” Sakura explained. “I haven’t mastered it yet, but I’m good enough to handle small wounds like these.”

Once she was done, Hinata offered her a hand to help her up, which Sakura took.

“Thanks, I owe you one.” Sakura reached into her pouch and retrieved the real Heaven Scroll. “Here, this is what you want, right?”

“N-N-No, I-I don’t want it!” Hinata said, taking a step back to put some distance between herself and the white scroll. “I-I-I just wanted to h-help.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow, suspicious of the generosity given their current situation. “Really? Why?”

“W-We are all f-fellow rookies, we should s-stick together.”

“Are you sure you don’t want it?”

Hinata nodded. “M-My team already has both scrolls, d-don’t worry about us.”

“Alright, then.” Sakura placed the scroll back in her pouch. “Speaking of which, where are they?”

“I-I, um… I told them I wanted to check something a-and asked them to wait. They’re not far.”

“You should go back to them; if you take too long they’ll worry about you. Thanks again.”

Sakura turned around and began to walk away, picking up her kunai on the way. Hinata silently twiddled her index fingers, trying to muster up the courage before it was too late.

“S-Sakura-san!” She called a little louder than planned, quickly using both hands to cover her mouth.

“Hm?” She stopped walking and turned around. “What?”

“I… Um… I-I’d… That is… I mean…” Her face progressively turned redder until she quickly bowed. “I-I-I’d like to be friends with you!”

Sakura stopped and turned around once more. “Friends?”

“I-I’ve always admired you.” Hinata explained without raising her head, afraid to look Sakura in the eyes. “You’re dedicated, brave, intelligent, pretty, a-and no matter how hard people try to p-push you down, you always get back up again. Y-You are everything that I am not. I thought… I thought that…” She gulped. “If I became your friend, you could teach me how to be more like you.”

Sakura smiled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, from what I’ve seen you’re already like that.” Sakura placed both hands on her shoulders and guided Hinata to straighten her back. “But if you really want to be friends with someone like me, then let’s be friends, Konata!”

“Um… A-Actually…”

Sakura chuckled. “I’m just joking, Hinata!”

Hinata covered her mouth with one hand to stifle a giggle.

* * *

Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were on the ground, heavily injured but still alive and conscious, alongside Rock Lee who saw fellow Leaf Village ninja in danger and decided to help. Zaku, one of the shinobi from the Sound Village, was also on the ground, unconscious with his arms bent in a way that suggested they were broken. Standing over him was Sasuke, his Sharingan activated and his body covered in black flame-like markings. Kin, another Sound ninja, was also unconscious, leaving only the heavily bandaged Dosu in fighting shape.

“I hope you’re more fun than the other guy.” Sasuke, with a threatening smile, took a step towards the last standing member of the Sound team.

Fearing for his life, their leader offered his Earth Scroll as a bargaining chip.

“I admit defeat.” The man covered in bandages said. “You’re stronger than us. Please, take our scroll. In exchange, let us leave with our lives.”

But Sasuke wasn’t interested in the Chunin Exam anymore; his body was overflowing with power and he needed to let it all out, so he simply slapped the dark blue scroll away with the back of his hand before grabbing the man by his scarf and pulling him close.

But the goddess of luck was on Dosu’s side that day, because Sasuke’s body was still getting adjusted to the Cursed Seal; the tomoe on his neck started hurting once more, causing him to lose his grip on the scarf and grunt in pain. The Sound ninja didn’t waste the opportunity, pushing Sasuke away and retrieving his teammates before disappearing into the forest while carrying his two unconscious teammates.

The Uchiha fell to his knees as the markings spread throughout his body began to rescind until only the original seal planted on him by Orochimaru was left. Panting heavily, he nearly fell flat on his face if it wasn’t for Ino, who quickly wrapped his arm around her shoulder and helped him stand up.

“Can you walk?” She asked, the fear she previously felt completely overshadowed by concern.

“Y-Yeah…”

Shikamaru picked up the Earth Scroll that belonged to the Sound team and stuffed it in his hip pouch, where he also kept their Heaven Scroll.

Neji Hyuuga and Tenten, who chose not to interfere after Sasuke regained consciousness with his Cursed Seal active, finally joined the group to check on Lee.

“Can we go now?” Choji asked as he got up, albeit with some difficulty.

Shikamaru helped his teammate stand. After thanking Rock Lee for his help, Team 10 left with Sasuke, leaving Lee’s teammates to take care of him.

“Where’s Naruto and Sakura?” Sasuke finally asked.

“We don’t know.” Ino explained. “The examiner lady saved you from a kidnapper and told us to take you away. We haven’t seen Naruto-kun or Sakura.”

* * *

Karin was cornered; her back was pressed against a giant tree and its roots blocked both her left and right sides. The only escape route was going forward, a way that was being blocked by a bear much larger than her. Clutching the Earth Scroll, she prayed that her teammates would come back and save her.

The giant bear opened its maw and charged. Not wanting to see what would happen next, Karin closed her eyes and waited.

“Are you ok?” She heard somebody speak. Opening her eyes, Karin saw the redheaded boy she met before the first exam standing in front of her. The bear stood still behind him, completely immobilized by chakra chains sprouting from his body.

“Y-You!” Was all she was able to say when she finally managed to open her mouth.

“It’s good to see you again, Karin-san.” The chains squeezed the bear until it lost consciousness. When that happened, the chains stopped glowing and then vanished. “Where’s the rest of your team?”

“Sh-Shigeri asked me to wait here while they scouted ahead.” She explained.

“They left you behind all by yourself?”

“They… They didn’t want to put an important asset in unnecessary danger by dragging me into a possible fight.”

Naruto’s eye twitched. “Important… _asset_?” His interactions with Haku and Zabuza and their talks about how shinobi are nothing but living weapons quickly passed through his mind. “So they treat you like a tool too?”

Karin looked away. “I have to heal them. It’s… my duty.”

“No, it isn’t!” Naruto retorted. “Shinobi aren’t tools to be used and then discarded when they’re no longer needed. We are people!”

“But I have to. They took me and my mother in when we had nowhere else to go. Serving the village is how we pay them back.”

Karin told Naruto everything; about how she and her mother lost their home and had to live on as vagrants, how the Grass Village offered them refuge in exchange for Karin’s mother ability to heal wounds, how she lost her mother after she depleted her chakra healing the wounded after a surprise attack and how they didn’t even give Karin time to mourn her death before they forced her to take on her mother’s duty. Naruto listened to everything she had to say without interrupting her even once, but growing angrier and angrier.

“Alright, that’s it!” Naruto announced, clenching his fist. “You’re not going back to the Grass Village ever again! I will not let anybody else take advantage of you or your powers ever again!”

“But the Grass Village is my home.”

“Home is where your family is. You are an Uzumaki like me and like my mom. If you go back they will use you like they used your mom and you will die the same way she did. I can’t let that happen to you. I’ll protect you!”

“Uzumaki-kun…”

“Call me Naruto. From this day forward you are an Uzumaki as well. Again!” He offered his hand to her with a smile, and she held it between hers with a faint smile on her face.

“Thank you, Naruto-kun.”

“But in the meantime, we have a Chunin Exam to finish. In which direction did your teammates go? I want to have a little chat with them!”

She pointed in the direction they went. “That was a while ago, though. I’m worried.”

“Then there’s no time to lose. Let’s go!” Holding her hand, Naruto dashed towards the direction she pointed.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to locate Karin’s teammates, but to her horror they were both face down on the ground, cold, unmoving and covered in blood. Their empty pouches were turned inside out with their contents discarded all over the place.

“No… Oh… Oh no…” She muttered as she inspected the bodies, but there was nothing she could do as they were both already dead.

“Crap…” Naruto said under his breath.

“There it is…” A voice echoes throughout the forest. “Their scroll…”

An army of Rain Village shinobi wearing dark bodysuits and gas masks with white cloth covering their eyes emerged from the forest. Karin cowered behind Naruto, who summoned his Adamantine Chains in a tornado formation around the two of them that kept spinning and serving as a shield.

“We wasted our time on them, when you had the scroll all along…”

“Hand over the scroll…”

Naruto made the first move, piercing the closest Rain shinobi with his chain. His target was reduced to a pile of black goo that soon reformed into the same appearance it had before Naruto “killed” it.

“It’s genjutsu!” Karen warned. “They’re not real!”

As if to prove her wrong, one of the Rain genin threw a double-sided kunai at Naruto, piercing his shoulder.

“Naruto-kun!” She screamed. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I thought—”

“It’s ok, Karin-chan.” Naruto removed the blade from his shoulder and pressed his hand against the wound. “I promised I’ll protect you!”

He threw the kunai back at one of the illusions, causing its torso to explode and two new torsos to sprout from the same pair of legs. Next, he used his chains to attack.

* * *

Sakura, alongside Hinata, Kiba and Shino, were hiding behind bushes, trying not to make a sound.

Kiba, the self-appointed leader of Team 8, allowed Sakura to tag along after Hinata practically begged him to let her come with them so she wouldn’t have to wander the Forest of Death all by herself. They were on their way to the tower in the center of the forest since they already had both scrolls, so Sakura sent out even more Shadow Clones to look for her teammates and tell them to regroup there.

When they sensed other participants ahead, Kiba suggested attacking them and stealing their scrolls so that there would be less competition in the next round. The others went along with his plan, but immediately regretted it after witnessing Gaara, the red-haired boy from the Sand Village, mercilessly slaughter a team of experienced genin from the Rain Village without taking any damage or even breaking a sweat. They thought they were going to die next, but Gaara seemed to have sated his bloodlust and moved on with his teammates, so they collectively let out the breath they were holding.

“Kiba…” Sakura called between gasps for air. “Next time you suggest something stupid I’ll smack you with a rolled up newspaper.”

Hours later, after the group of four arrived at the tower, Sakura thanked them for the company and stayed behind waving while the members of Team 8 entered the tower. Hinata waved back as the doors closed seemingly automatically. She climbed on a tree, sat on a branch and waited.

* * *

Members of the Uzumaki clan had large pools of chakra, but even Naruto couldn’t fight forever – he was running out of chakra as well as blood. He dodged and blocked as many kunai thrown at him as possible while also protecting Karin, who was significantly less injured, but he couldn’t keep track of all the men attacking him and some weapons slipped through the cracks.

Karin correctly guessed that the casters of the genjutsu were syncing up their attacks with the attacks of the illusions, so they couldn’t tell which attacks were real and which were fake. The caster or casters were hiding in the woods, but Naruto couldn’t attack them without knowing where they were, and moving from that spot would mean lowering the tornado of chains around their bodies that had defended them from more attacks than either of them bothered to count and making them vulnerable.

The Uzumaki pair was surprised when the clones started to disappear on their own until none were left, but the reason behind that soon made itself known: three Sakuras dragging three unconscious Rain Village genin wearing white bodysuits, gas masks and white cloth around their eyes approached the redheaded duo.

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto called with a big smile on his face as he retracted the chains.

“There you are, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” One of the pink-haired Shadow Clones said as they let go of the Rain ninja they had knocked out and inspected his pouch until she retrieved the Heaven Scroll he had – since they already had that one, she just tossed it over her shoulder. “Our original self is waiting by the tower in the center of the forest.”

“Sure, I’ll… I’ll be… right there…” Naruto fell on one knee.

“Are you ok, Naruto-kun?” Karin asked, kneeling beside him.

“I’m fine, just a little… lightheaded. Guess I lost more blood than I thought.”

“Here!” Karin offered her forearm to him. “You saved my life, it’s only fair I do the same.”

“Karin-chan…” Naruto placed a hand on her forearm and pushed it away. “I promised you I will not let anybody take advantage of your powers ever again. That includes me, too.”

“But… But…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!”

“It’s ok, Naruto.” The Sakura-clone said. “Take off your clothes.”

He chuckled. “Come on, Sakura-chan, now is hardly the time for that kind of—”

“Just shut up and take them off before I finish what those guys started!”

Naruto did as he was instructed, stripping down to his underwear and exposing his wounded body. After performing a few hand seals, Sakura’s hands glowed green and she proceeded to rub them all over his wounds, slowly healing all of them – some of them were too deep for her to heal, but Karin had bandages for those.

“How do you feel?” She asked after she was done.

“Much, much better. Thanks a lot, Sakura-chan!” Naruto said as he dressed himself. “I didn’t know you could do that, it’s amazing.”

“I just learned how to do it recently. It’s far from perfect since it’s self-taught, but hopefully I’ll be better at it next time we need it.”

Two of the clones helped Naruto stand while the third clone took point. Karin followed them closely.

Far from there, three more of Sakura’s Shadow Clones came across Team 10 and Sasuke, also telling him about the meeting point by the tower and escorting them there. Since they were closer, they arrived there first.

“Thank you for taking care of him.” Sakura said, bowing to the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

“No need to thank us.” Ino said as she wrapped both arms around Sasuke’s waist. “Besides, I had the opportunity to get my hands all over Sasuke-kun’s sexy body, that’s more than enough payment.”

“Don’t be a creep, Ino.”

“Here.” Shikamaru said, reaching into his pouch and taking the Earth Scroll that once belonged to the Sound Village genin. “You drove away those guys, so it belongs to you. It’s only fair.”

Sasuke shook his head. “You can keep it. As a show of gratitude.”

“Suit yourself.”

“Sasuke-kun, you’re so generous!”

“We’re going in.” Shikamaru also retrieved the Heaven Scroll from his pouch. “See you on the other side.” With that said, Team 10 was the second team of Leaf rookies to complete the second round of the Chunin Exam.

Naruto arrived not long after, accompanied by Karin and the three clones that dispelled as soon as they reunited with the original Sakura.

“Thank you and Naruto-kun for saving my life.” Karin said to Sakura, bowing and offering the Earth Scroll that belonged to her team. “I won’t be needing this anymore, so I want you to have it.”

“Thank you.” Sakura replied, accepting the scroll.

“What are we going to do about Karin-chan?” Naruto asked his teammates. “She can’t come inside with us and nobody is allowed to leave the forest until the fifth day.”

“I’ll just lay low around here until the five days are up. Don’t worry about me, Naruto-kun, I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” She nodded. “Ok, I’ll trust you, then. But be careful either way, people may still target you even if you don’t have a scroll.”

“I’ll find a good hiding spot.”

Once inside the tower, the members of Team 7 opened both scrolls; they contained a summoning inscription that was used to summon a chunin who would welcome the participants and congratulate them for passing the second exam. The chunin assigned to them was their old sensei from the academy, Iruka Umino. The tower had accommodations for the participants, so they took a well-deserved break and rested until the five days were up.

In the afternoon of the fifth day, at 2:30 PM, exactly 120 hours after the second exam started, the 21 genin who managed to pass the second exam were all called to the spacious room with a gallery on each side overlooking it in the very center of the tower. Each team’s sensei, the previous proctors and a couple of chunin were there, alongside the Third Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi explained to them that the true purpose of the Chunin Exam was to show the might of each village.

After his speech was over, the special jonin and third examiner named Hayate Gekko explained that, since more participants than expected had passed, a round of preliminary matches in the form of one-on-one combat would take place in order to decide who would advance to the next and final stage of the Chunin Exam. Hayate explained that teams no longer mattered since they would be tested individually, so anyone who wished to drop out was free to walk away from the exam, as their teammates would be able to proceed without them. Kabuto Yakushi, the silver-haired Leaf Village genin the rookies had met prior to the first exam, took him up on that offer and excused himself.

The matches were announced on a screen high up on the wall. The first names shown were Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado, one of Kabuto’s teammates. They stepped forward while everyone else moved to the galleries to watch the fight from a vantage point.

Yoroi dominated the first half of the fight with his ability to steal chakra and the fact that Sasuke couldn’t do much due to the Cursed Seal on his neck damaging him and limiting his moveset, but he eventually turned the tables by using a technique inspired by Rock Lee’s moves when he defeated him before the Chunin Exam started.

“Ino.” Sakura called as she approached her best friend. “Did something happen to Sasuke while he was with you guys?”

“Hm? What do you mean?” She asked.

“Just now, during the fight, I saw— Well, I _think_ I saw… something. Did something happen, or am I seeing things?”

“I…” Ino wanted to tell her about what happened, but she couldn’t; not long after driving away the shinobi from the Sound Village, Sasuke made her, Shikamaru and Choji promise they would keep the mark on his neck a secret, especially from his teammates for fear that they would not give their all for the rest of the Chunin Exam because they would be too busy worrying about him – and Ino Yamanaka kept her promises. “Not that I know of, I’m sorry.”

“Hm… I must be my imagination, then. I’ve been a little on edge ever since the proctor announced that half of us won’t be going up to the third exam.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel. I’m surprised we even made it this far. Choji, Shikamaru and I aren’t particularly strong, even when working together; this could be it for all of us.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Ino.” Sakura playfully elbowed her friend’s arm, smiling.

Ino smiled back but didn’t say anything, choosing to simply watch as Kakashi-sensei escorted Sasuke away, doing her best to mask the worry in her eyes.

The next fight was Shino Aburame against Zaku Abumi, one of the Sound ninja who had both arms in slings. Zaku was still able to use both arms, but due to his overconfident nature he was outsmarted by Shino, losing his right arm and heavily damaging his left arm in the process.

Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi, Kabuto’s other teammate, were next. Misumi immobilized Kankuro with his ability to stretch his body parts and attempted to strangle him, but the Sand Village genin had switched places with his puppet, Karasu, and used it to break the bones in Misumi’s body, winning the fight rather easily.

When the names chosen for the fourth fight appeared on the screen, Sakura’s eyes widened in surprise: she had been pitted against her best and, until recently, only friend, Ino Yamanaka, who reacted similarly.

“It must be fate, huh?” Ino said with a sad smile as she walked towards the stairs leading to the arena.

“Ino, I…” Sakura followed her to the arena, where they stood facing each other. “I didn’t think I’d have to fight you.”

“Neither did I, but things are what they are. Are you ready?”

“To fight you? Never.” She sighed. “But I guess I’ll have to either way, so…”

“Remember what I told you: you are your own woman. Beating me here will be undeniable proof that you’re no longer that scared little girl who would hide behind me every time we’d go out in public.” Ino assumed a fighting stance. “I’ll admit that I’m not as strong as you are, but I will not just roll over and let you walk all over me. If you want to win, you’ll have to work for it. I’ll ask you again: are you ready, Sakura?”

With a serious expression, Sakura nodded and mirrored her fighting stance. “Ready when you are.”

“Do your best, Sakura-chan!” Naruto cheered. “You can do it!”

“But… But what about me?” Ino asked him with puppy dog eyes and a sad pout.

“Sorry, Ino-chan. Don’t lose, I believe in you!”

“I’m your teammate, moron!” Sakura chastised him. “You should be cheering _me_ on!”

“Uh… Good luck, both of you!”

Sakura groaned in annoyance.

“Begin.” Hayate said as he raised his hand, announcing the start of the fight.

Ino moved first, throwing half a dozen shuriken at Sakura as she jumped backwards to put some distance between the two. Sakura summoned two Shadow Clones to serve as human shields as she ran after Ino. Contrary to the pink-haired kunoichi, however, the blonde wasn’t running away, but luring her in; Sakura had too much momentum to dodge when Ino jumped forward instead of backwards, slamming her shoulder on her best friend’s chest and sending her flying.

She quickly got up and summoned two clones that transformed into kunais that she threw at her. Ino dodged both, but just as the weapons were about to touch the ground they turned back into clones, jumped towards the blonde and hit her with a double kick to the back before dissipating, throwing her toward Sakura, who kicked her to the side with a spin kick.

Ino got up with some difficulty “You’ve grown a lot since our academy days, Sakura.” She grinned. “But I’m no slouch either!” The Yamanaka heiress pulled her right hand, causing Sakura’s arms to be pulled forward.

“What the…?”

Ino then pulled her left hand and Sakura’s right leg followed suit, causing her to lose her balance and fall on her butt. Inspecting her limbs closely, Sakura spotted very thin wire strings tied around both of her wrists and right ankle – Ino had surreptitiously tied them there when she slammed Sakura and when she was kicked.

“I’m sorry, Sakura-chan, but I’m not going to let you beat me just yet!” She moved the wire strings like a puppeteer, forcing Sakura to cross her arms around her leg, immobilizing her long enough for the blonde to perform hand seals. “Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!”

After that, everything went black.

* * *

When Ino opened her eyes, she was lying down on a wet floor in the middle of a dimly lit corridor with the ceiling and walls lined with pipes. She got up and wiped the water off the side of her face with her arm warmer.

“Is this… Sakura’s mind?”

Ino reluctantly took a step forward, somewhat afraid that something would jump out of one of the dark hallways – nothing specific, just _something_. She hadn’t been inside too many people’s minds, but none of them made her feel so uncomfortable and vulnerable. When nothing happened, she kept walking.

The only thing she could hear was the splashing of water as she took one step after another, so when she heard a growl that sounded way too close for comfort, she understandably jumped. Ino stopped when she reached a massive chamber containing a large gate with nothing but darkness behind it. She approached the gate cautiously, then screamed and fell when claws much bigger than her entire body slipped past the bars, barely missing her.

 **“You’re not the runt.”** The deep voice from beyond the gate spoke, shaking the kunoichi to her very core. The demon fox beyond it approached its face to the bars, revealing itself to her.

“Wh-Who… What… are you?” Ino fearfully asked.

“Remember Kitsu-nii,” the blonde turned her head and saw Sakura approaching her “my imaginary friend from way back when? Well, turns out he is not quite as imaginary as we thought. Welcome to our special place.”

“B-But… I… You… What is going on?!”

“It’s a long story. Short version is, you know that nine-tailed fox that nearly destroyed the village all those years ago? Well, he is sealed inside me. And this is him. Say hello, Kitsu-nii!”

**“I don’t associate with pigs.”**

“Th-That… _thing_ is inside you?”

Sakura lifted her qipao dress, exposing the seal on her midriff. “Remember this? It’s the seal keeping him locked up.”

“That’s… That’s…”

“Crazy, I know. I learned about it the night before our graduation day at the academy, and I’m still wrapping my head around it.”

**“My seal is not a place for you to hang out with your moronic friends. Get out of here, runt, and take the little pig with you before I break out of here and devour you both.”**

Sakura took Ino’s hand and helped her stand up.

“Don’t worry, he can’t get out.”

 **“Yet. The seal has begun to weaken, runt, and your body is still too fragile to contain me.”** The giant fox placed the tip of its claw against one of the bars and began rubbing it up and down, causing a metallic scratching noise. **“I will break out of here and kill every single person you ever cared about. After that I will have my revenge and destroy the Leaf Village.”**

“S-S-Sakura…”

“Don’t listen to him, Ino. He’s just trying to scare us. The seal will hold, there is nothing he can do.”

**“Lying to make her feel better, feel safe. Pitiful. Humans are a disgrace.”**

“You should get out of here, Ino. Go back to your body.”

Ino nodded and intertwined her fingers, forming a unique hand seal specific to that technique.

“Release!”

* * *

Ino gasped as she woke up, patting herself to make sure she was back in her own body, and sighing in relief upon confirming it. After inspecting her surroundings, she found herself within a hospital room. Sakura, lying on a bed to the right of Ino’s, grunted as she regained consciousness.

“You’re both awake. Good.” Asuma Sarutobi, Ino’s sensei, said as he stood from his seat between the two beds. “We were starting to get worried, I was about to ask someone to call Inoichi-san to inspect you.”

“What happened?” Ino asked. “How long have we been…?”

“After you immobilized Sakura and used your Mind Transfer Jutsu on her, the two of you went limp and lost consciousness, so Hayate-san declared the match a draw. That was three hours ago.”

“A draw?” Sakura echoed. “So we both… lost?”

Asuma-sensei nodded. “I’m afraid so. I’m sorry.”

Sakura looked down, crestfallen. “After I worked so hard, I couldn’t even…”

“Sakura, that… that thing inside you…”

“Ino.” Asuma called – she had never heard her laid-back sensei sound so serious before. “I know what you saw inside Sakura, and I need to ask you to keep it to yourself. That is an S-rank secret that mustn’t be discussed in public under any circumstance. Understood?”

“I…” She looked him in the eyes – he was being uncharacteristically serious. “Understood, Asuma-sensei.”

“What’s the point of keeping it a secret?” Sakura asked. “That law was created to hide the truth from me specifically, right? So what good is it now that I already know everything?”

“Just between us, Sakura, I doubt you know everything there is to know about what happened that night thirteen years ago.” Asuma commented. “And I doubt I do, too; my father is an honest man, but the Council is fond of its secrets.”

The three of them remained silent for a moment, until Asuma broke the silence:

“Would you like to change the subject and know the results of the Chunin Exam?”

“Yes.” They replied simultaneously.

Asuma reached for his pack of cigarettes, but then remembered he was indoors in a hospital, so his hand stopped moving and he sat back down on the stool.

“After the two of you lost consciousness, Tenten from Guy-san’s team fought the girl from the Sand Village. Tenten tried her best, but the other girl just blew her away – literally, even; she used a fan.”

“Tenten is the one with the scrolls and the weapons, right?” Sakura asked, to which Asuma nodded. “I fought her in the Forest of Death. She’s good. Was she really defeated so easily?”

“She is good, but those Sand kids are powerful. Especially the… Well, the fight after that was Shikamaru versus the Sound Village girl. He did some clever trick with his Shadow Possession Jutsu and knocked her out.”

“Serves her right!” Ino said with her arms crossed. “They ambushed us while we were taking care of Sasuke-kun. Speaking of which, how is he?”

“He’s doing fine, Kakashi-san is looking after him. He took care of his _wounds_.” Asuma winked at Ino with his back turned to Sakura so she wouldn’t see it – Shikamaru had informed him of Sasuke’s wish to keep it a secret from his teammates.

“I’m glad he’s ok.”

“Moving on, after that it was Naruto’s turn, and he fought Kiba. Kiba put up a good fight but Naruto is crazy good with those chains of his, so he won.”

Ino chuckled. “And after he said he would surpass our class’s top 3; his metaphorical tail must be tucked between his legs right now.”

Ino’s laugh was contagious, so Sakura chuckled as well. Asuma simply smirked before his expression turned serious.

“After that, Hinata had to fight her cousin Neji. It was… well, bad. Hinata tried, but Neji was merciless. In the end the jonin had to intervene; I don’t know if it was his intention to kill her or not, but if he continued he definitely would have.”

“Is she going to be ok?” Sakura asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.

“Frankly, I’m not sure. She was taken to the emergency room, I’d say chances are 50/50.”

Sakura squeezed her blanket, out of both worry and anger.

“Lee from Guy’s team is in bad shape, too; he had to fight the red-haired boy from the Sand Village.” Sakura’s worry and anger quickly vanished, gradually replaced by fear once memories of him and what he was capable of came flooding back.

“He also fought well. They said that boy was never injured in his life, but Lee gave him a good beating with that inhuman speed of his. In the end he crushed Lee’s left arm and leg with his sand, so he couldn’t fight anymore.”

Sakura shivered. “He actually fought him? I would have forfeited immediately.”

“Is he really that strong?” Ino questioned.

“ **Very** strong. But he is also cruel. I saw him squeeze three guys to death, blood spraying everywhere, and he did not even flinch, like it was just another Tuesday for him.”

Ino shivered as well. “Hope I don’t have to cross paths with him.”

“Tenth and final battle was Choji versus the last Sound guy. Choji tried his best, but the Sound guy won. I promised to take him out to eat barbeque if he fought; he’s not terribly injured so I’ll take him after he wakes up. You’re welcome to join us, Ino. You too, Sakura.”

Ino smiled. “That’s the consolation prize for us losers, huh? Well, I burned a lot of calories in the Forest of Death, so I suppose it’s ok to go wild for a day. Wanna come, Sakura?”

“Sure, but you can go ahead. Give me the address and I’ll catch up later, first I want to check on Hinata-chan and Sasuke.”

Sakura already expected it, but she wanted to try anyway; Hinata was still in the emergency room being treated for very serious internal injuries, but for some reason she wasn’t allowed to visit Sasuke either, even though when Kakashi escorted him out of the arena he had minor injuries at best. She wondered if something really did happen in the Forest of Death that Ino either didn’t know about or was hiding from her.


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura entered the hospital carrying two daffodils, with Ino close behind with a rose and a third daffodil in hand, all of them bought from the flower shop belonging to the Yamanaka family. They visited Sasuke first due to Ino’s insistence, but he had vanished overnight along with his belongings, leaving only his hospital gown behind.

They visited Lee after that, but his room was also empty. Unlike Sasuke, though, Lee was still nearby and they found him just outside, doing pushups despite his broken limbs. They tried to talk some sense into him, but he ignored them and kept going until he lost consciousness. The hospital staff carried his unconscious body back to bed and Ino left the daffodil in a vase before they moved on to Hinata’s room.

“Hinata-chan, you have visitors.” The nurse accompanying them announced before opening the door and letting them in.

“Good afternoon, Hina-chan.” Sakura greeted.

“H-Hello, Sakura-san.” Hinata, who was sitting up in bed, greeted back.

“How are you feeling?”

“B-Better. Don’t—” Hinata placed her hand in front of her mouth and coughed. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I’m your friend, Hina-chan, I’ll worry about you regardless. Here, I brought this for you!” Sakura placed the two daffodils she was carrying in the vase filled with water resting on the bedside table by the window. “The other was for Sasuke, but since he decided to vanish without leaving a note behind, you can have his too. Maybe you’ll heal twice as fast!”

“In the language of flowers, the daffodil means vitality and new beginnings.” Ino explained with a smile on her face. “You’ll come out of this hospital better and stronger than before.”

“You remember Ino from the academy, right?” Sakura asked.

“Y-Yes, but… we were never… formally introduced.” Another cough.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hinata Hyuuga-chan. Any friend of Sakura is a friend of mine. I hope we can get along.”

“M-Me too.”

“Hinata-chan, you have another visitor.” The nurse announced as the door opened to allow a third girl in.

“Hello.” Tenten said as she noticed the other two visitors. “A bit crowded in here, huh? You’re so popular, Hinata-san!”

Hinata blushed. “N-Not really.”

“You’re Neji’s teammate, right?” Ino asked. “The one who lost to the Sand girl?”

Tenten grunted. “Don’t remind me… Anyway, I came to see how you were doing, and… well, apologize for Neji’s behavior. He’s not very fond of the main family, but what he did was way over the line.” She gave a sheepish smile. “Just don’t tell him I said that or he’ll get mad at me!”

Hinata didn’t say anything, she just nodded.

“Why does he hate the main family so much?” Ino asked. “Did something happen?”

Tenten shook her head. “That’s Neji’s business concerning the Hyuuga clan. If he wants to talk about it then _he_ will talk about it. I won’t go around spreading information about his personal life.” She turned to look at Sakura. “Since you’re here too, Sakura, I want to apologize for attacking you in the Forest of Death. Lee was putting himself on the line to protect rookies while I was trying to kill one, and that wasn’t cool.”

Sakura waved her arms dismissively. “It’s ok, don’t worry about it; it was part of the Chunin Exam, you did what you had to do. People got killed in that forest, so you weren’t even that bad in comparison.”

“Alright, then. I should go, it’s almost lunch time and I need to tend to the store while my dad steps out. Get well soon, Hinata.”

“Wait!” Sakura called. “You’re good at handling weapons, right?”

“Not to toot my own horn, but…”

“Can you… teach me a few things? Naruto is out of town training with his godfather, Kakashi-sensei already said he is going to train Sasuke – whenever he shows up, I’d guess... I don’t want to just sit around doing nothing all day while they get ready for the third portion of the Chunin Exam. They’re only going to get stronger and I don’t have a kekkei genkai to give me a boost like they do; I don’t want to be left behind.”

Tenten smiled. “You’re starting to sound just like Lee.” She shrugged. “I was going to train with Neji, but I can hardly keep up with him now; compared to him, I’m on the same level as a training dummy – he has a better chance at improving by training with someone like Guy-sensei.” She sighed. “Ok, why not? I could use a training partner whose skill level isn’t miles ahead of mine, anyway.”

“So you’re going to help me?”

“Sure!” She gave Sakura one of her sensei’s trademarked thumbs-up. “Meet me tomorrow, Training Ground #3. Is 8 AM ok with you?”

“Sure, I’ll be there.”

“Can I come?” Ino asked.

“You?” Sakura raised an eyebrow. “Who are you and what did you do with my hair-obsessed friend who cares more about calories than finessing her technique?”

“Har har har, very funny. I was just thinking that what you said makes sense; Asuma-sensei is making Shikamaru train every day for the Chunin Exam and Choji is helping them. What am I going to do for the next month, sit behind a counter and sell my mom’s flowers? Nuh uh! I’m not going to be left behind by them and, more importantly, by you, Sakura.”

“Me?”

“We’re going to have a rematch some day, one that is not going to end in another draw; I’m not giving you a head start.”

“It’s a promise, then?” Sakura asked, pointing her fist at Ino.

“It’s a promise.” Ino bumped Sakura’s fist with her own.

After saying their goodbyes to Hinata and wishing her well, the three kunoichi departed from the hospital.

* * *

For the next two weeks, Sakura and Ino met with Tenten every morning. She taught them how to properly handle weapons, helped them improve their aim and even taught them how to use different types of weapons like sickles, needles, swords and even the chakra blades Asuma-sensei was so fond of – to varying degrees of success.

Sasuke didn’t reappear during that time period, but Sakura had faith that Kakashi-sensei would find him and properly prepare him for the final portion of the Chunin Exam.

When the third week of training started, the girls received an unexpected visitor:

“G-G-Good morning.” Hinata greeted, waving shyly at them.

“Hina-chan!” Sakura called with a smile. “So good to see you out of the hospital. How are you doing?”

“M-Much better. For real this time, n-no more coughing. I was told to not push myself, though, so I can’t help Shino-kun with his training.”

“That’s a bummer. Have you come to watch us, then?”

“N-Not exactly.” She took a deep breath. “Y-You know that jutsu you used in the forest when you were fighting Tenten-san?”

“The Chakra Scalpels? How did you know I was using that?”

“Y-Yes, I… I saw it from a distance with my Byakugan. I-I couldn’t help but notice that it’s not t-that different from the Gentle Fist used by the Hyuuga clan, you just target the muscles instead of the chakra network. I-I-I was wondering… m-maybe I can teach you the Gentle Fist style so you can better fight with that technique? N-N-Not that I’m implying you’re not good or anything, I… I was just…”

“It’s ok, Hina-chan, I know what you meant. But are you sure it’s ok? You shouldn’t push yourself.”

“D-Don’t worry, I’ll just show you the proper stances and movements. I won’t push myself, I promise.”

“In that case,” with a smile, Sakura bowed in front of Hinata “It’s an honor to be taught by you, Hinata-sensei!”

Hinata’s face turned crimson red.

* * *

The four pajama-clad kunoichi gathered in Sakura’s house on the eve of the third and final portion of the Chunin Exam; the group had gotten pretty close over the period they trained together, so they spent the night chatting, eating sweets and having a good time.

“I’m sorry, Sakura-chan, but you definitely have a crush on him.” Tenten commented before popping another dumpling in her mouth.

“I most definitely do not!” Sakura said, her cheeks turning pink. “I just like Haku-san as a friend. We bonded because we have similar backgrounds. You agree with me, right, Hina-chan?”

Hinata focused on eating her cinnamon roll; she didn’t want to make her friend mad, but she also didn’t want to lie. Ino simply giggled as she brushed her long golden hair.

“Why did you bring that up, Ino-pig?” Sakura questioned, glaring at her blonde best friend.

“I just wanted an excuse to get into the subject of crushes.” She explained with a gleeful smile on her face. “Are you girls crushing on anybody? Other than Sakura on Haku-san, I mean.” She ignored the glare directed at her.

“Not really…” Hinata said, looking down at the bite mark on her cinnamon roll. “I used to like Naruto-kun when we were younger, but he became too… flirty as we grew older. I’m not interested in guys who can’t be happy liking just one girl.”

“Hear that, Ino?” Sakura asked with a smirk, nudging her long-time friend. “Hina-chan says flirting with more than one person is not ok.”

“W-Well, we’re still young, I-I think it’s ok to explore the possibilities before settling down with just one person for the rest of your life.” Ino crossed her arms and looked away with a tinge of pink on her cheeks.

“Is that even allowed?” Tenten asked. “Mixing bloodlines, I mean. If the heirs of two different clans get married, the law dictates that the wife must adopt the clan name of the husband. For example, if Ino-chan marries Sasuke, she has to become an Uchiha by law, so all your descendants will also carry the name Uchiha and your kekkei genkai will be incorporated into the Uchiha clan – clan heads are not exactly fond of the idea of sharing jutsu, that’s why they recommend marrying civilians or clanless shinobi. Would your family even be ok with it?”

Ino rubbed her chin, deep in thought. “I never really thought about that…” She finally shrugged as she shook her head. “Well, I’m sure we can work things out. I refuse to marry someone I don’t love, and I love Sasuke-kun. And Naruto-kun. Can I marry twice? Is that legal?”

Sakura shrugged as well. “I can marry whoever I want, it’s not like there’s a Haruno clan that needs to be reestablished or anything like that.”

Ino grinned. “Then maybe you can help Haku-san reestablish his!”

“INO!”

“What about you, Tenten? You gave this big speech about mixing bloodlines, but you never told us who you have a crush on.”

“Hm… Can’t really think of anybody. When I was in the academy my dream was to be just like Tsunade-sama, then after graduating I changed my mind and decided to become a weapons master instead; I never really paid much attention to boys, my main goal was always to hone my craft.” She smiled. “But I did find Sasuke and Naruto kinda cute when we first met during the Chunin Exam.” Ino glared at her with fire in her eyes, baring her teeth. “It was just because of their looks, though; they are cute, but I am definitely not into their personalities. So don’t worry, Ino-chan, I’m not trying to ‘steal your men’.”

Ino puffed her cheeks. “You better not.”

Sakura laughed at how cute Ino looked with puffed out cheeks while pouting, and Hinata giggled at Sakura’s reaction. They soon settled down, looking at each other and hoping they would bring up something new to keep the conversation going before bedtime.

“So, tomorrow is the day, huh?” Ino brought up.

“Too bad none of us is actually going to participate.” Tenten commented with a sad sigh.

“Look on the bright side.” Hinata said. “The only reason we’re all friends and spending the night at Sakura’s place together like this is exactly because none of us is going to participate in the third round of the Chunin Exam.”

Sakura wrapped an arm around Hinata and pulled her into a side hug. “Always looking for the silver lining, huh, Hina-chan?”

Ino reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper Shikamaru had given her where he wrote down the match-ups. “So, the first round is going to be Naruto-kun versus Neji, Gaara versus Sasuke-kun, Kankuro versus Shino and Shikamaru versus Dosu with Temari fighting whoever wins. What are your thoughts?”

“Naruto-kun is strong, but I don’t know if he can win against Neji-niisan.” Hinata commented. “Naruto-kun keeps his distance and fights with his chains, but Neji-niisan is a close-quarters fighter. I mean, Kiba-kun was too and Naruto-kun defeated him anyway, but Neji-niisan is much stronger than Kiba-kun; if he gets past the chains, Naruto-kun is finished.”

“Sasuke is strong too, but Gaara…” Sakura shuddered. “None of us was there to watch him fight Lee-san, but Hina-chan and I have seen what he is capable of.” Hinata nodded. “If Kakashi-sensei found him then I hope he taught him something useful, otherwise Sasuke is going to die.”

“I’m sure Shikamaru can defeat that Dosu guy.” Ino said. “I’ve seen how he fight, and more importantly, so did Shikamaru; he’s smarter than he looks, I’m sure he already has ten different winning strategies based on our brief encounter in the Forest of Death.”

“He has to fight Temari from the Sand Village right after, though.” Tenten pointed out. “I don’t know much about his techniques, but she is going to be a tough opponent.”

“Shino-kun can beat Kankuro.” Hinata continued. “He uses chakra to manipulate his puppet, right? Shino-kun’s bugs feed on chakra. If… no, _when_ he severs the connection between puppet and puppeteer, the fight is his.”

It was Ino’s turns to shudder. “I still can’t believe that guy has bugs living in his body.”

Hinata giggled. “Shino-kun is quiet and reserved, but he’s a real sweetheart once you get to know him. After some time you just learn to accept the bugs and they don’t bother you as much as they used to.”

“But still! Bugs! Inside his body!”

The four kunoichi spent some more time chatting about the matches before turning in for the night. Ino and Sakura shared the bed while Hinata and Tenten slept on futons – Hinata had a little trouble falling asleep once Tenten, who fell asleep rather quickly, wrapped her arms around her and pulled Hinata into a hug, essentially spooning her for the rest of the night.

* * *

Tenten apologized profusely the next morning for unconsciously violating her personal space, but Hinata immediately forgave her, even admitting that she felt comfortable once she got past the feeling of awkwardness. After taking turns using the shower, they got ready and left the apartment together in civilian clothing, going straight for the arena where the third and final exam was going to take place – the exam wouldn’t start until later in the day, but by arriving early they guaranteed some of the best seats that hadn’t already been reserved for the wealthy and daimyo that were coming to the village solely to spectate the matches.

The finalists gathered in the arena a couple of hours later, but two of them were missing: Sasuke, who hadn’t been seen since he snuck out of the hospital, and Dosu, who had dropped out without explanation, meaning that Shikamaru had to fight Temari on the first round. After the new proctor, Genma Shuranui, explained the third and final exam to them, they exited the arena, leaving only Naruto and Neji behind.

“Who do you think is going to win?” Sakura asked. “I have to root for Naruto since we’re teammates, so there goes my vote.”

“Same, but for Neji.” Tenten said.

“Neji-niisan is family, so…” Hinata started saying, but trailed off.

“Do you even have to ask?” Ino said stood up and cupped her mouth with both hands. “KICK HIS BUTT, NARUTO-KUN! WHIP HIM INTO OBLIVION WITH YOUR CHAINS!”

“Two votes each, then.” Sakura sat on the edge of her seat. “This is going to be interesting.”

Naruto, who had trained the control of his jutsu in that past month, was able to summon his chains much faster, making the first move by sending ten different Adamantine Chains flying toward Neji. The Hyuuga, however, managed to avoid the barrage of attacks effortlessly, closing the gap between the two, but Naruto managed to slip away by wrapping a couple of chains around the trees in the arena and pulling himself away from danger. After that he attempted to attack him with chains coming from below ground, but Neji saw the chains coming thanks to his Byakugan and avoided every single sneak attack.

Seeing himself running out of options, Naruto decided to summon as many chains as his body possibly could, completely surrounding Neji with no escape route in sight, and attacked him with all of them at once. But the Hyuuga genius blocked every single Adamantine Chain by using his Rotation technique. Too stunned to move after witnessing his last resort fail, the Uzumaki boy was rushed by Neji, who defeated him by using his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique.

“Neji-niisan is incredible.” Hinata commented. “Those techniques he used are only taught to the heirs of the main branch, but he mastered them just by watching my father teach my sister and I.”

Tenten, who had a smug smile on her face, crossed her arms behind her head. “People don’t call him a genius for no reason, you know.”

After Neji returned to the bleachers, Hiashi, Hinata’s father and head of the Hyuuga clan, took him aside to speak to him in private.

Sasuke’s fight was next, but it was postponed due to the fact that he had yet to arrive. Kankuro was going to fight Shino next, but the Sand Village puppeteer forfeited without a second thought, meaning that Shikamaru had to fight Temari next.

“Beat her up with a 16-hit combo!” Ino cheered.

“Avenge me, Ino-chan’s-teammate-whose-name-I-forgot!” Tenten joined in on the cheering.

Temari fought well, but Shikamaru exploited the holes on the ground created by Naruto’s chains and won due to his superior intellect and stall tactics – or he would have won, had he not forfeited after she was caught in his Shadow Possession Jutsu.

“I’ll beat _you_ up with a 16-hit combo, you lazy piece of crap!” Ino threatened.

“Guess I’ll have to avenge myself some other day…” Tenten sighed in defeat.

The crowd was beginning to grow restless, since a large portion of them, including the wealthier spectators and daimyo, were looking forward to the Gaara versus Sasuke match. Just as the Third Hokage was about to announce Sasuke’s disqualification, a tornado of leaves appeared in the middle of the arena that, once subsided, revealed the jonin Kakashi Hatake and his student Sasuke Uchiha in a new, darker outfit standing back to back.

Kakashi offered an apology, worried that Sasuke had been disqualified, but fortunately the Third Hokage had allowed their fight to be put on hold until their arrival, mostly due to the Kazekage’s insistence. Kakashi approached the kunoichi group on the bleachers, causing Ino to throw a handful of candy wrappers at him.

“Why didn’t you tell anybody he was with you?” Ino nearly shouted. “We were worried sick!”

“Sorry, sorry!” He said as he picked a wrapper that got stuck on his flak jacket. “Sasuke was so eager to start training that he left the hospital and came after me, so we started right away; I didn’t really have time for anything else.”

Ino took a deep breath to calm herself down. “How’s his neck?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He answered with a reassuring smile that could almost be seen through his mask.

“What’s wrong with his neck?” Sakura inquired.

“I, uh… gave him a hicky.” Ino quickly lied.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. “When and how?”

“A lady does not kiss and tell, Sakura-chan!”

“Did you take advantage of him in the Forest of Death? I know you’re gross, Ino, but that’s just messed up.”

“N-No I did not! I-It’s just that—”

“They’re starting.” Tenten announced, bringing the argument to a halt.

Gaara didn’t waste any time before summoning the chakra-infused sand kept in the gourd he carried on his back. Sasuke, who had gained a lot of speed since he was last seen, managed to be quicker than Gaara’s sand, landing the first hit. There was nothing Gaara could do other than use his sand to cushion his landing when he was tossed by one of Sasuke’s punches or kicks as he broke his Sand Armor little by little. The red-haired Sand Village boy eventually formed a hand seal, erecting a shield around himself that created sand spikes when someone got too close, almost impaling Sasuke in the process – he kept trying to break the barrier, but the sand had hardened beyond the point where simple taijutsu would be able to do any damage.

However, Sasuke still had a trick up his sleeve: gaining some distance between the two, Sasuke performed a number of hand seals before his hand was enveloped in electricity, much like Kakashi’s Lightning Blade.

“CHIDORI!” Sasuke shouted as he ran towards the cocoon, piercing it completely with his recently-acquired ninjutsu.

Gaara screamed, both in pain and in shock after seeing his own blood. The cocoon dissolved into regular sand, revealing the wounded boy, who was pressing his right hand to his wounded left shoulder. What happened next was a mystery to the audience, as feathers began falling from the sky, putting them all to sleep.

“Is that…?” A sleepy Ino asked.

“Genjutsu!” Sakura warned before performing a hand seal, much like many other shinobi around her. Hinata, Ino and Tenten mimicked her.

“Release!” All four of them said at the same time, dispelling the genjutsu and keeping themselves awake.

Everything went to hell in a matter of seconds; all the spectators in arena sans the shinobi who cancelled the effects of the genjutsu were put to sleep, the Kazekage took the Hokage hostage, the Sand Village shinobi turned hostile, Sound Village shinobi invaded the Leaf Village and giant snakes were summoned to wreak havoc. Gaara’s teammates joined him in the arena before their sensei ordered them to retreat, so Genma in turn ordered Sasuke to give chase while he fought the Sand jonin.

“That’s no good.” Tenten said, grabbing a concealed kunai as Sound ninja appeared on the bleachers.

Sakura summoned five Shadow Clones while Hinata, who was in no condition to fight, and Ino, who lacked experience in close quarters combat without a weapon, stayed down. Sakura and Tenten were talented, but their opponents were in bigger number and caught them by surprise, so the best they could do was protect themselves and the others without much opportunity to fight back. Thankfully Kakashi thinned their numbers, giving them a fighting chance.

Tenten, who carried her weapons everywhere regardless of occasion, dispatched them quickly and efficiently. Sakura, who was in civilian clothing and didn’t carry any weapons on her person, could only rely on her Chakra Scalpels, which she wasn’t capable of using to inflict mortal wounds, so the best she and her Shadow Clones were able to do was overwhelm and immobilize them while Tenten finished them off with her many weapons. Others joined in on the fight, but more Sound and Sand shinobi just kept appearing.

“Listen carefully, girls.” Kakashi spoke. “I’ll be busy around here for a while, so I’m going to assign you an A-rank mission: Sasuke went after the Sand genin so I want you to go after him, help him out of whatever trouble he’s gotten himself into and go somewhere safe. Tenten, you are the most experienced so I’m putting you in charge. Release Shikamaru from the genjutsu and take him with you, I’m told you could use his talents.” Kakashi performed a couple of hand seals before slamming his palm on the ground, summoning a brown miniature pug wearing a Leaf Village headband. “This is Pakkun, he will track Sasuke down for you.”

“Hey.” The talking dog greeted, waving his paw.

One of Sakura’s clones did as she was told, but Shikamaru was awake the entire time, simply playing dead to avoid having to fight.

“Hinata is still recovering.” Ino pointed out. “She shouldn’t—”

A Sound shinobi was about to attack her from behind, but Tenten’s sensei Might Guy intercepted his attack, punching him through a wall.

“Trust me, she’ll be safer anywhere that is not here, now go.”

“Come on!” Tenten commanded as she jumped through the hole created by the taijutsu master. Pakkun went immediately after, followed by Ino, Sakura, Hinata and a reluctant Shikamaru.

“Pick up the pace, kids!” Pakkun warned. “One, two, four… Eight. No, nine people are giving chase and they’ll catch up to us in no time.”

Tenten clicked her tongue in annoyance before reaching inside the hip pouch hidden underneath her qipao dress – thankfully she never left her home without them, always ready for a fight. Opening the scrolls, she unsealed several kunai with explosive tags wrapped around them, leaving them behind in places that would make it impossible for the people chasing after them to see before it was too late. It didn’t take long for the sound of explosions to reach their ears, bringing a smile to the weapons specialist’s face.

Pakkun smirked. “Good job, kid. One down.”

She frowned. “Only one?”

“They are Orochimaru’s subordinates and former Leaf shinobi of at least chunin level, the fact that even one of them fell for it should be cause for celebration.”

“They underestimated us.” Ino explained. “They had their guard down because we’re a bunch of genin. They won’t make the same mistake again.”

“Then how about this?” Sakura crossed her fingers, summoning half a dozen clones of herself who stayed behind to fight. After just a couple of seconds, she gasped. “It didn’t work. None of my clones could last more than a second or two. They’re strong.”

“Shikamaru, how much chakra do you have?” Tenten asked.

“Not much.” He replied. “If you want me to delay them with the Shadow Possession Jutsu, the best I can offer is a few seconds.”

“How are you holding up, Ino-chan?”

She cracked her knuckles. “Good to go.”

“Can you perform that jutsu you’ve been working on?”

She smirked. “So that’s the plan, huh? Yeah, I can do that.”

“Great. Shikamaru, you and Ino-chan will stay behind. Grab them and let her do her thing.”

“What thing? What jutsu?” The boy asked.

“I’ll explain.” Ino grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop with her.

* * *

The Sound ninja didn’t know the tracks they were following were fake, created by Shikamaru and leading them straight into a trap.

“Shadow Possession Jutsu: Success.” He announced after immobilizing all seven of them. “Ino, you’re up!”

“With pleasure.” Ino performed the required hand seal. “Mind Destruction Jutsu!”

The enemies expected something to happen, but everything remained the same. They were confused, but slightly amused.

“Which one?”

“Third from the left. Let him go.”

Shikamaru did as he was told, releasing the Sound chunin from the Shadow Possession Jutsu.

“The last mistake you’ll ever make.” He reached for his holster, retrieving his kunai. “Now you’ll— Huh?” He tried to throw his kunai at Shikamaru, but his arm wouldn’t obey. Instead, he turned to face one of his teammates.

“What are you doing, moron?” The teammate asked.

“I-I can’t control my body!” He suddenly tackled the ninja to the ground a moment after Shikamaru released him from the Shadow Possession Jutsu as well. “I swear I’m not doing this!”

The other man struggled, but in the end he was stabbed to death. He stood up, ready to attack another, but a handful of shuriken were thrown by the ninth Sound ninja hidden in the trees, aiming for Shikamaru.

“Ino!” He called. Thinking fast, she forced the man whose body was under her control to throw himself in the way of the weapons, killing him in the process. “Sorry, but this is my limit.” With that said, Shikamaru’s shadow vanished, freeing the six remaining men.

“Kill th—”

“Rotation!”

Before they had the opportunity to strike back, Neji Hyuuga landed right in the middle of the group of Sound Village shinobi and sent them all flying with the same technique he used to defend himself from Naruto’s last resort. They stood up and tried to fight back, but they were no match for the speed and power of the genius from the Leaf Village’s strongest clan, taking them all down one by one with his Gentle Fist technique.

“Which way did Hinata-sama go?” He asked. Ino and Shikamaru pointed in the correct direction, which he inspected with his Byakugan, spotting signs of people having passed through there. “Very well.”

The last Sound shinobi hidden in the trees fled. Neji intercepted the man and struck him down in midair before going after the others. Ino and Shikamaru shared a look and a nod before following him.

* * *

“That inhuman scent from before is dead ahead.” Pakkun warned.

“Should we go around it?” Hinata asked, a little apprehensive.

“Negative.” Tenten replied. “We can’t afford to waste time taking a longer route, who knows what will happen to Sasuke if we do. We keep going and hope like hell whatever that is isn’t hostile.”

“Shino-kun!” Hinata called as she ran ahead of the group, landing next to the Leaf genin. “What happened to you?”

“H-Hinata…” He said, struggling to move his mouth. “P-Puppet… Poison…”

“Where’s the puppeteer?” Tenten asked, looking around with a kunai in hand.

“Took… care… Harmless n-now…” Those were his last words before he lost consciousness.

Sakura inspected the headless puppet lying next to the Aburame boy and found blades coated in poison protruding from the wrists of its four arms. Lifting the wooden arm to her nose, she sniffed the blade.

“I know what poison this is; it’s deadly even in small doses, but thankfully very common as well.” Sakura stood up and grabbed the hem of her dress before pulling it up.

“S-Sakura-san, what are you—” A blushing Hinata asked, but calmed down when she spotted the belt wrapped around Sakura’s waist holding small pouches and vials. “Oh…”

“I don’t carry weapons around everywhere I go like Tenten does, but I do carry medicine.” She explained. “I’ll take care of Shino, you go ahead.”

Tenten nodded. “Come on, Hinata-chan.”

Hinata, Tenten and Pakkun left Sakura behind, who retrieved a syringe and a needle from one of the pouches before filling it with liquid from one of her vials and injecting it in Shino’s arm. After discarding the needle and putting the syringe away, she used her Healing Palm Jutsu to help stimulate the antidote, accelerating its effects. Shino woke up coughing in a matter of minutes.

“Sakura.” He called after recognizing the pink hair through the dark lenses of his sunglasses. “How long have I been out?”

“Ten minutes tops. How are you feeling? Can you stand?”

“I think so.” He took the hand that she offered to help him up.

“Thankfully there was only a little bit of poison in your system – the smaller the quantity, the longer it takes to cause severe damage.” She smiled. “Lucky you I got here when I did, huh?”

“You healed me?”

She nodded. “While you finalists were training for the Chunin Exam, the girls and I were polishing our own skills as well so we wouldn’t fall behind. I’m not exactly a medic, but I know a thing or two that will come in handy.”

Shino nodded. “Thank you, Sakura.”

“Sakuraaaaa!” Ino called before landing on the branch next to her, followed by Shikamaru and Neji.

“Ino!” Sakura hugged the blonde kunoichi. “Good to see you’re ok! You too, Shikamaru.”

“Where are the others?” Shikamaru asked.

“Went ahead while I took care of Shino.” She explained as she pointed out which direction.

“What’s this thing?” Ino asked, poking the motionless puppet with the tip of her foot.

“A puppet that belongs to Kankuro from the Sand team.” Shino said as he looked at the insect crawling on the nail of his index finger. “My beetles drained his chakra. He’s down there somewhere, unconscious.”

“Should we take him back to the village?” Shikamaru asked while looking down, trying to see below through the foliage. “When things die down, I’m sure they’ll have some questions.”

“No, leave him.” Neji said. “There are plenty of Sound and Sand shinobi back at the village, they must have taken some prisoner by now. Right now our priority is the safety of the others. They should have caught up to Sasuke by now.”

“I’m sure they beat those Sand shinobi and are coming back as we speak.” The ever optimist Ino said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Shikamaru replied. “I know Sasuke is strong, but I’ve seen what that Sand boy is capable of.”

“Follow me!” Neji ordered as he dashed in the direction the others ran. Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru and Shino followed.

* * *

Sasuke was on the ground, writhing in pain due to the dark marks spreading all over his body. Hinata was pinned to a tree by a giant paw made of sand that held her in place. Tenten was the last one standing, holding her chain-sickle in a fighting pose despite being covered in wounds and standing protectively between Sasuke and a bipedal beige beast with black eyes and dark blue markings all over its body, massive arms and a large tail swinging behind it.

“Hinata-sama!” Neji called, but the unconscious Hyuuga heiress couldn’t respond.

“Neji, don’t!” Tenten warned. “He made that thing and it won’t come off until we beat him. The more you mess with it the tighter it becomes.”

“Tenten!” Sakura shouted before landing next to the weapons expert, followed by the rest of the Leaf Village genin. “Sorry we took so long.”

“Wh-What the hell is that?” Shikamaru asked, clearly disturbed by the monster standing across from them.

“I-It’s Gaara.” Sasuke said. “He transformed into that thing.”

Sakura kneeled next to him, ready to heal him to the best of her abilities, before gasping in shock after spotting the Cursed Seal spreading all over his body. “Wh-What is that? Did he do that to you?”

“No.” Ino interrupted. “No, it wasn’t him.”

“Ino?” Sakura could tell her best friend knew something about what was happening to Sasuke.

“We’ll talk later. Right now we have to beat that thing and save Hinata.”

Neji couldn’t hit his chakra points due to the fact that Gaara’s real body was buried underneath a thick layer of sand. Tenten’s weapons were ineffective for the same reason. Shino’s bugs couldn’t penetrate his sand body. Ino couldn’t get him to stand still to use any of her clan techniques. Shikamaru had no chakra left and the best he could do was stand back while coming up with a plan. Sakura was the only one with a real chance of beating Gaara by overpowering him with as many clones as possible, but every time she tried he blew them all away by summoning a sandstorm or throwing sand shuriken.

No matter how hard they tried, none of them were able to cause him any damage; they were growing desperate and the sand around Hinata grew tighter as the one-sided fight went on. Sakura could only think of one course of action.

“Ino!” She called. “I need you to use your Mind Transfer on me.”

“Are you crazy?!” She shouted. “Last time I did that we were out cold for hours!”

“I need to talk to him, but I can’t meditate here.”

“Talk to wh— Oh.”

“Trust me, we’ll be fine.”

“But what if—”

“If we don’t do anything we’re all going to die. It’s our only option. Now do it.”

Ino sighed and performed the hand seals. “Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!”

* * *

The two of them once again found themselves within the seal of the nine-tails, this time already standing right in front of the massive gates.

“Thank you.” Sakura said. “Go back to your body, you shouldn’t leave it unattended.”

Ino nodded before intertwining her fingers. “Release!” She vanished into thin air, leaving Sakura alone with the beast beyond the sealed gates.

 **“What now?”** The nine-tailed fox asked from beyond the gate.

She pointed a finger at the giant beast. “Give me your chakra!”

**“I don’t answer to you, runt.”**

“If you don’t, you will die.”

**“Oh? How so?”**

“I am in serious danger right now, and you’re sealed within me. If I die then you die as well, right?”

The fox’s booming laugh echoed throughout the entire chamber. **“What gave you that idea? I am no mere mortal. I’ll just be reborn into the world eventually. Sealed or not, you can’t kill a tailed beast.”**

“You… You…” Sakura had an idea. “And what are you going to do when you come back?”

**“Crush the Leaf Village until there’s nothing left but a crater.”**

“No, you won’t. The Leaf Village is currently under attack, and the person I’m fighting is stronger than anybody I’ve ever seen. By the time you come back to life, the Leaf may be long gone and you’ll be denied of your revenge. Is this what you want? To have your quest for vengeance denied because someone else did it before you?”

The tailed beast growled. **“The Leaf Village is _my_ prey!”**

“What do you say, Kitsu-nii? Wanna help me protect the Leaf Village so that you can destroy it yourself?”

He glared at her. **“If that is what I must do, then so be it.”** Red chakra flowed from underneath the gates, swirling around the kunoichi before wrapping around her body. **“I’ll admit that you’ve grown stronger, runt, but you’re still far from a worthy vessel. Let’s see if you can handle this much of my chakra without burning from the inside out.”**

* * *

When Ino opened her eyes, she was still falling to her knees – this time around not even a second had passed in the waking world when she released her jutsu.

“I-Ino…” Sakura called. The blonde shinobi looked up at her best friend – her body was shaking, her green eyes had turned red, fangs appeared in her mouth and her nails turned into claws. “G-Get back!”

Ino quickly jumped to a different branch as Sakura pressed her hands to the sides of her head, grunting in pain. Red chakra began flowing out of her body like smoke, but the amount soon grew until it resembled a raging fire. Everybody in the area, including Gaara, could feel the sudden surge of chakra and turned to look at her.

The shapeless cloud flowing out of her gathered around her body, turning into a cloak of red chakra; two ears of chakra sprouted on top of her head and she grew a tail made entirely of red chakra. Falling on all fours, the pink-haired kunoichi let out a roar of rage that sent shivers down Ino’s spine.

Sakura could only see two colors: red, which coated the entire world, and shapeless black figures around her that were slowly backing away, with the exception of the largest dark smudge standing just a few meters in front of her and not moving an inch in either direction. Sensing danger coming from whatever that was, the feral Sakura made the first move, leaping towards it with her hand clenched in a fist.

Gaara raised one of his large arms to block, but Sakura’s punch still sent him flying, crashing through branches until he slammed his back against the trunk of a tree. Before he had the chance to stand up, Sakura quickly caught up to him, landing a kick on his gut that forced him through the trunk itself. This time he grabbed a branch in midair and tossed himself towards the Leaf jinchuuriki, landing a kick on her cheek and sending her flying back the way they came. Sakura’s chakra tail, however, wrapped around his leg, pulling Gaara with her as she flew away. The two of them crash-landed on a branch before standing up and resuming their fight.

Gaara, who, unlike Sakura, stayed relatively sane despite transforming, could tell that he was fighting a losing battle and the only thing he could do was delay the inevitable. Growing angrier and angrier with each punch, Gaara had enough when a kick sent him crashing down into the ground, opening a small crater where he fell. Sakura stood on all fours on a branch, breathing heavily while baring her fangs, saliva dripping from her mouth.

“I will… not lose… TO THE LIKES OF **YOOOOOOOOOOU!** ”

A massive explosion of smoke caught Sakura by surprise, sending her flying. The other Leaf shinobi and Temari, who was lying low, were standing a safe distance away from the source, but they could still feel the wind rushing past them and had to cover their faces with their arms.

“What… is that?” Sasuke asked, spotting a giant silhouette several times taller than the treetops within the smoke that was slowly dissipating.

The first thing they could clearly see was a pair of glowing yellow eyes. As the smoke dissipated, they could see other parts of the gigantic creature: much like Gaara’s transformed appearance, the beast had a beige body with blue markings all over it. It stood on all fours and had an equally large tail slowly swinging behind its body.

Not discouraged by its size, the feral Sakura leaped towards it, but was knocked away by the beast’s giant paw. She tried rushing it after getting back up, but the tailed beast stomped on her; thankfully the nine-tailed fox’s chakra saved Sakura from certain death, but she was still severely weakened by it. She tried leaping towards it one more time, but the giant tail swatted her away like a fly. Sakura crashed through two whole trees before slamming her back on the third. The chakra cloak dissipated and she lost consciousness.

“It’s useless.” Gaara’s booming voice echoed throughout the entire forest. “You’re full of surprises, Sakura Haruno, but there is nothing you can do against me now. You’ll die here and now, along with Sasuke Uchiha and all the other weaklings who dared to stand between me and my prey.”

“H-How are we supposed to fight something that big?” Ino asked, her legs shaking in fear.

“I’ll tell you how: by making it pick on someone its own size. SUMMONING JUTSU!”

Another massive cloud of smoke enveloped the area, but this time they weren’t on the ground when it dissipated: Ino, Sasuke, Neji, Tenten, Shino, Shikamaru and Pakkun were all standing on top of a massive red frog roughly the same size as the tailed beast; he wore a blue happi vest, had a blade strapped to his hip and was a smoking pipe hanging from his mouth.

“Sorry I took so long, Sasuke-chan. Is everyone ok?”

Standing on top of the giant frog’s head, just a few meters in front of the genin group, was none other than Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto’s mother and matriarch of the recently revived Uzumaki clan, looking back at them with a smile on her face and with Karin Uzumaki by her side.


	6. Chapter 6

Sasuke was just as shocked as he was relieved to see his teammate’s mother and his late mother’s best friend standing in front of him in the middle of a battlefield on top of a giant toad she summoned, with a girl roughly his age with hair just as red as Kushina’s clinging to her waist.

“Auntie Kushina!” He said, accidentally calling her the nickname he hadn’t uttered in many years. She caught that slip, causing her smile to grow wider.

“Who are you?” The massive beast across from them asked, unfamiliar with the two newcomers.

“Just a housewife who happened to be passing by.” She replied, although she wasn’t sure he would be able to hear her from that distance.

“Kushina?” The large frog finally spoke. “I haven’t seen you in ages, Jiraiya told me you had retired.”

“Sorry to bother you, oyabun, but we’re kind of in a pickle right now.” She pointed at the sand beast across from them. “Can you lend us a hand?”

“Shukaku of the Sand, huh?” He spoke, recognizing the giant monster in front of him before reaching for his blade. “I haven’t fought a tailed beast in over a decade. This is gonna be tough.”

“Kids, this is Gamabunta, the big boss of Mount Myoboku.” Kushina introduced her summon. “And that over there is Shukaku, a tailed beast not unlike the one that attacked our village thirteen years ago. They are about to battle, so you better hang on or else you might fly away – it’s a pretty big drop from here to the ground.”

Not needing to be told twice, the genin and Kakashi’s dog concentrated chakra on their hands and feet, sticking to the large toad’s head.

“Please, lead that beast away from this area.” Neji requested. “Hinata-sama is being held hostage by his power.”

“Sakura is unconscious somewhere down there, too.” Ino reminded them.

“You hear the kids, oyabun? Let’s get that thing away from here.”

Gamabunta unsheathed his blade and jumped towards the beast, cutting off its right arm that disintegrated into sand after falling on the ground, but losing his grip on his weapon in the process. He landed behind the Shukaku, forcing him to look away from where Sakura and Hinata were.

“He’s pretty tough, I was barely able to cut through him.” He explained.

Gaara, Shukaku’s host, emerged from the Shukaku’s forehead and cast a jutsu that forced himself to go to sleep, losing his control over the tailed beast in the process. Shukaku, now in full control of his own body, laughed.

“It’s good to be free!” He shouted before spotting Gamabunta and pointing at him. “You there! I’m going to kill you! Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet!” Shukaku inflated his belly with air before slamming his remaining arm on it, shooting a massive ball of air from his mouth at the chief toad, who dodged it with a jump.

“Water Style: Liquid Bullet!” Gamabunta spat giant balls of water at Shukaku, who countered them with more air bullets, creating a heavy rain over the forest below.

Gamabunta and Shukaku kept firing elemental bullets at each other, countering the opponent’s jutsu. Shukaku eventually got lucky and landed a hit that Gamabunta wasn’t able to counter, but it wasn’t sufficiently powerful to cause enough damage to win the fight.

“That’s no good.” He said. “A few more of those and I’m out of commission for good, Kushina.”

“It’s ok, I can take him on!” She replied. “Get us close enough to him and I’ll handle it.”

“Suit yourself.”

The big boss of Mount Myoboku leaped towards Shukaku, stunning him for a second – that second was more than enough for Kushina to activate her Adamantine Chains and wrap them around the tailed beast’s body.

“Got it!” Her cheering was interrupted by a gasp; the Shukaku was struggling, and she wasn’t powerful enough to hold him for long. “Karin-chan, you’re up!”

Karin summoned her own Adamantine Chains that Kushina recently taught her how to use, and together they were able to temporarily subdue the tailed beast completely.

“Kids!” Kushina called. “I need one of you to give that boy a good smack to wake him up!”

Rising to the occasion, Sasuke dashed towards Shukaku’s forehead where the asleep Gaara was hanging from; spinning in midair, he gave the Sand Village jinchuuriki a solid kick in the face, snapping him out of the sleeping jutsu.

“Damn it!” Shukaku shouted. “I was finally free!”

As Gaara woke up, Shukaku’s free will disappeared and the red-haired boy once again had full control over the giant sand construct.

“Karin-chan, now!” Kushina ordered. Together, the two Uzumaki women squeezed the beast with their Adamantine Chains, slicing it into pieces that turned back into sand.

Gamabunta extended his piercing-covered tongue, cushioning the fall of both Sasuke and Gaara before setting them both down on the ground. The Leaf Village shinobi riding on the oyabun’s back then climbed on his tongue and he carried them down to safety before vanishing.

The claw trapping Hinata in place dissolved into sand and the heiress of the Hyuuga clan fell, but Neji caught her before she hit the ground. Not far from there, Ino located the unconscious Sakura who was burning up with a fever.

“Now what?” Shikamaru, who had Sasuke’s arm draped over his shoulder, asked.

“Wind Scythe Jutsu!” Temari shouted as she jumped over the group and swung her fan, summoning a powerful gust of wind that forced them all to cover their faces. Whilst they were distracted, the Sand kunoichi and her puppeteer brother rescued their younger sibling and fled.

“Get back here!” Tenten ordered, reaching for her weapons scroll. “You’re going to—”

Kushina stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Let them go.” She said with a soft voice and a warm but concerned smile. “Now that the worst is over you should focus on helping your friends.”

Tenten looked over the genin she was supposed to lead; Sasuke was barely able to stand with unknown black markings all over his body, Shikamaru had close to no chakra left, Ino was carrying the unconscious Sakura on her back, Neji carried the unconscious Hinata on his arms and Shino was breathing heavily, still recovering from being poisoned. The only ones unscathed were Kushina and Karin, who had just arrived and were not involved in their mission. Tenten placed the scroll back in her pouch.

“You’re right, I’m sorry, ma’am. Our orders are to rescue Sasuke then go to the nearest shelter. Follow me, everybody.”

* * *

“Mom…?” Naruto’s vision was a little blurry when he opened his eyes and all he could see was a redheaded person sitting by his bed.

“Not quite.” Karin corrected with a concerned smile on her face.

“Karin-chan.” He flashed her a smile of his own.

“You’re awake!” Kushina said as she entered her son’s hospital room before moving to his side and placing her hand on top of his. “I’m sorry I missed your fight, baby.”

“That’s ok. Neji kicked my butt, I’m glad you didn’t see that.” His eyes moved from his mother to his other relative. “Mom, if Karin-chan is here, does that mean…?”

Kushina nodded. “Yup! It took some convincing and a lot of shouting, but the two of you are officially siblings.”

Naruto’s smile grew wider. “Awesome!”

After the second phase of the Chunin Exam, Naruto introduced Karin to his mother, and after telling the woman her story, they travelled back to the Grass Village together. Kushina had a meeting with the daimyo in which she invoked the 5th amendment of the Five Great Shinobi Countries Treaty, in which it was stated that any refugee, shinobi or civilian alike, in possession of a kekkei genkai belonging to an active clan must be reported to the head of said clan, for they have a bigger claim to their custody than whatever village they may be sheltering them.

Zosui, the jonin in charge of Karin’s team, retorted by stating that the Uzumaki clan was no longer active after the destruction of the Eddy Village many years prior, but Kushina’s rejoinder was to present a document signed by Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage himself, granting permission for the Uzumaki clan to be reestablished in the Leaf Village. Unable to legally counter that, the daimyo had no option but to grant Kushina Uzumaki the guardianship of Karin Uzumaki and give her the body of Karin’s mother so that it could be given a proper burial in the clan’s home village.

She taught Karin how to summon the Adamantine Chains as well as the ability to sense chakra from great distances on their trip back to the Leaf Village, but they arrived in the middle of Orochimaru’s invasion. They located Naruto and Sasuke using their sensory ability – Naruto, who was still unconscious after his fight with Neji, had been moved to a safe place, so they went after Sasuke and the others to offer some assistance.

Naruto, happy to hear everything worked out, wanted to celebrate the growth of their family, but a somber Kushina denied his request before explaining to her son all that happened in the village while he was hospitalized.

* * *

“Hinata-sama.” Neji called as he saw Hinata’s eyes flutter open.

“Niisan…” She tried to get up from the hospital bed, but Neji gently held her down by placing his hand on both of her arms.

“Please, don’t move. You must rest.”

“You… came to save me.” Hinata was fading in and out of consciousness while they fought Gaara, but she still heard her cousin’s voice.

“It’s my job to keep you safe at all costs.” He explained. “After my fight in the Chunin Exam, Hiashi-sama wanted to talk to me, and he told me things. Things I didn’t know. Things about our family and especially about my father. He opened my eyes and I…” Neji fell to his knees. “I’m sorry for everything I did to you, Hinata-sama, especially during the Exam. I promise that I will never again cause you any harm again nor let any harm come to you.” He placed his hands on the floor, bowing before her.

“Neji-niisan…”

* * *

The Leaf Village survived the invasion, but they lost many shinobi in the process, including their Hokage who was killed in action while fighting Orochimaru. Sakura Haruno fell into a coma after the fight with Gaara due to the nine-tails chakra causing her a lot of internal damage and missed the Hokage’s funeral – while severe at first, the medics of the Leaf Village were able to heal her enough so that she would no longer be in mortal danger, but none of them had the refined skill necessary to fully heal her. Even the nine-tails chakra wasn’t able to heal her like it usually did, given that it was the reason behind her condition in the first place. As she slept, civilians and shinobi alike worked together to repair their broken village.

In the absence of both a Hokage and a Kazekage, the Leaf Village Council worked with the Sand Village Council after their surrender to patch things up between the two villages once it came to light that the Fourth Kazekage, who ordered the invasion, had been assassinated and replaced by a disguised Orochimaru long before the invasion.

Naruto left with his godfather Jiraiya both on a training trip and to find the sannin Tsunade, a candidate for the position of Fifth Hokage. Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Guy fought Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke’s older brother, and his partner Kisame Hoshigake, who came to the village looking for Sakura, resulting in Kakashi being bedridden after falling victim to Itachi’s ultimate genjutsu, Tsukuyomi. Sasuke caught wind of those events and went after Itachi in an attempt to kill him, catching up with him in the hospital hallways, but was defeated with ease. Thankfully they were intercepted by the ANBU accompanied by Guy-sensei before reaching Sakura’s room, driving them away before she was taken.

Jiraiya and Naruto crossed paths with Orochimaru and Kabuto, who were also searching for Tsunade in an attempt to convince her to heal Orochimaru’s heavily damaged arms, a “parting gift” from the Third Hokage before his demise. Naruto, after learning that Kabuto, whom he met during the first portion of Chunin Exam and helped him locate Karin, was a spy all along, defeated him with a technique created by his father, Minato Namikaze, and taught to him by Jiraiya.

Jiraiya and Tsunade, with their respective summons Gamabunta and Katsuyu, the giant slug from Shikkotsu Forest, teamed up to fight against Orochimaru and his summon Manda, leader of the snakes from Ryuchi Cave. They were victorious in the end, but Kabuto and his master fled. Accepting the offer to become the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade returned to the Leaf Village, where Naruto requested her to heal his unconscious teammates.

Not a single day passed without Sakura receiving a visit from one of her friends, be it Ino, Tenten or Hinata, two of them together or even all three at once – even Shikamaru, Neji and Shino dropped by for a visit every once in a while. Karin, who was asked by her adoptive brother to keep her company in his stead while he was away, also visited her from time to time after her training sessions with Kushina, who sometimes accompanied her.

“Excuse me.” Tsunade said as she entered the room Sakura was in, followed by her apprentice Shizune.

“Hm?” Tenten, who was in the room at the time, turned her head to look at the unknown visitor. Her eyes almost popped out of her skull. “Y-Y-Y-Y-You…! You are…!”

“Tenten?” Ino raised an eyebrow, confused by her friend’s reaction. “Who’s this?”

The weapons expert bowed. “TS-TS-TSUNADE-SAMA, I AM YOUR B-BIGGEST FAN!”

“Tsunade?” Hinata repeated. “The legendary sannin Tsunade?”

“Yup, that’s the one.” Naruto said as he entered the room. “Hi there, Ino-chan, Tenten-chan, Hinata-chan. Long time no see!”

“Naruto-kun!” Ino immediately pounced on the boy, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I missed you sooooo much! With Sasuke-kun hospitalized and you gone from the village, I was so lonely!”

Hinata glared at Ino, offended that their company meant so little to the blonde, but the Hyuuga heiress was a very forgiving person and the feeling quickly disappeared.

Tsunade sighed. “This room is too crowded. Everybody out.”

“Yes, Tsunade-sama.” Hinata said as she bowed before pulling Ino and Naruto out of the room with her.

Tenten stayed behind, looking up at Tsunade with shimmering eyes.

“I said—”

“Ca-Can I watch?” Tenten asked, interrupting the recently instated Hokage. “I-I’ve admired you since I was a little girl and always wanted to be just like you, but I have no talent for medical ninjutsu. Can I at least see you in action? Just this once?”

Tsunade sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “If it means that much to you then fine, you can stay.”

Tenten quietly did a fist pump, grinning from ear to ear. Tsunade and Shizune stood on opposite sides of the bed, removing Sakura’s blanket before performing hand seals that made their hands glow green. The sannin placed her hands on Sakura’s forehead and chest while Shizune placed hers on the throat and stomach.

“Internal chakra burns, all over her body.” She commented. “But not regular chakra burns, these are…” She turned her head to address the genin. “What happened to her?”

“We’re not sure.” Tenten explained. “She started glowing red, then she grew horns, a tail and got super strong, but she was acting strange, like a wild animal or something. Then she was knocked out by a big monster named Shukaku and hasn’t woken up since then.”

“Not horns. Ears.” Shizune corrected, lifting Sakura’s gown to expose the seal on her stomach. “Tsunade-sama, she is…!”

“…the jinchuuriki.” Tsunade finished her apprentice’s sentence.

“Jinchuuriki? What’s that?” Tenten asked.

But Tsunade didn’t answer, focusing on healing the pink-haired girl. The two medical ninja massaged the youngest kunoichi’s body with their glowing hands, from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head, healing the internal burns caused by the chakra of the demon fox sealed within her. Roughly forty minutes later, the sannin and her assistant moved their hands away from Sakura’s body.

“That should do it.” Tsunade said, stretching her back after staying hunched over for so long. “She should be up and about in two to three days.” She glanced at the spiral-shaped seal. “Maybe even less.”

Tenten bowed one more time. “Thank you so much, Tsunade-sama.”

“Now that I took care of the girl Naruto was nagging me about for days, I can check on the others without him bothering me. Let’s go, Shizune.”

* * *

_“What do you want with Sakura?”_ Sasuke, who was still in bed recovering after being healed by Tsunade, remembered Might Guy asking his older brother in the hospital hallway.

_“I’m not interested in you.”_ He remembered his brother, Itachi Uchiha, the man who single-handedly wiped out their entire clan, telling him while they stood in front of the door leading to the room where the comatose Sakura was in while still holding his wrist after deflecting Sasuke’s Chidori.

He thought back to their first day as Team 7, when Kakashi challenged them to take a pair of bells from him and how Sakura was the only one who accomplished the task, even though it wasn’t the purpose of the test.

He also thought about Gaara in his monster form and how he couldn’t even keep up with it despite having the Sharingan, but Sakura was able to send it flying with a single punch after her body was enveloped in a strange red chakra. The Sand shinobi had to become hundreds of times bigger than her in order to win the fight.

_“You are weak. Why? Because you lack hatred.”_

Sasuke squeezed his blanket and clenched his teeth in anger and frustration.

“Sasuke!” Naruto called as he entered the room uninvited without even knocking. “Come quick. Sakura-chan woke up.”

Sakura’s room was located down that same hallway; she was still lying in bed but her eyes were open and she was fully conscious. Sitting next to her bed was a red-haired adult woman.

“Hello, Sakura Haruno.” She finally spoke, her voice calm and soothing as she rubbed the girl’s hand.

“Who… are you?”

“Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto-chan’s mom. We never met before, have we? It’s a pleasure to finally meet Naruto-chan and Sasuke-chan’s teammate. How are you feeling?”

Sakura sat up with seemingly no trouble at all, almost like she had just woken up from a nap instead of a coma. “Fine, I guess. How long have I…?”

“Forty days.”

Sakura’s expression remained neutral at first while her brain still processed the information. Little by little, however, her eyes widened and her expression turned into one of shock. “Wh-What…?”

“Your body was not ready to use that much of the fox’s chakra, and you almost burned from the inside out because of it.” She explained. “Thankfully Naruto-chan was able to bring Tsunade-sama back and she was able to heal you, otherwise you’d still be in a coma.”

“A… coma?”

Kushina nodded. “I’d like to apologize, first for the invasion of your personal space – I wanted to check what kind of seal had been used on you and my curiosity got the better of me, so I took a peek under your gown and for that I am sorry. Second, I’d like to apologize for the seal itself.”

“You… do? But why?”

“The seal used to contain the nine-tailed fox inside of you is the Eight Sign Seal, which is a secret technique of the Uzumaki clan, a technique that I only taught to three people: the Third Hokage, Jiraiya-sama and my husband Minato, who lost his life thirteen years ago when that thing attacked the village. I resented you for carrying around the monster that killed him like a mother carrying a child, even though you weren’t even aware of it, but now I see that it is you who should resent me.

“Jiraiya-sama wasn’t in the village and the Hokage-sama was fighting the whole time, so neither of them had the opportunity to set up the ritual altar necessary to perform the sealing technique. This means that my husband was the one who sealed the demon fox inside you with the technique I taught him. My family cursed you, Sakura Haruno, and for that I am truly, deeply sorry. I know the words of an old widow mean nothing compared to the burden you were forced to carry your whole life, but I had to at least apologize, both for your situation and for what I did – or rather, for what I _didn’t_ do.

“When I looked at you I never saw Sakura Haruno, the orphaned little girl who was mistreated by her elders and avoided by her peers, I only saw a vessel containing the thing I hate the most that caused so much suffering, and so I never did anything to help you when you needed it. I’m sorry.”

“I… see.”

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto called as he entered the room, his smile as bright as ever.

“I’ll leave you kids to catch up.” Kushina stood up before placing a hand on Sakura’s shoulder. “I should have said this long ago, but… if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask me. My door is always open.” On her way out, she crossed paths with the third member of Team 7. “Sasuke-chan, you shouldn’t—” But the Uchiha ignored her, simply walking past her and entering Sakura’s hospital room. “Huh. He must be in a hurry to see her.” Kushina left the hospital and went back home, but feeling something was off as she walked.

“Sakura.” Sasuke called from the doorway. Naruto was trying to feed her peeled apple slices that she kept dodging, but something in his tone made both of them stop and look at the boy. “Get up. I want to fight you.”

“What the…? Are you an idiot or something?” Naruto chastised him, pointing at him with an apple slice pierced with a toothpick. “Sakura-chan just woke up and Tsunade-sama treated you yesterday, you both need to—”

“I don’t care!” After shouting that, Sasuke’s Sharingan activated.

“Ok.” Sakura said as she tossed the blanket away.

“S-Sakura-chan!”

“I’ve been out of commission for a month, I need to get back in shape. No time like the present, right?” She hopped out of bed and moved to the closet where the clothes of patients were usually kept; sure enough, her red qipao dress and dark green shorts were there.

Naruto was speechless, surprised that someone who was unconscious for over a month could move around like a healthy person just a few minutes after waking up. He quickly turned his head away when Sakura removed her hospital gown, blushing furiously.

“There, all set.” Sakura was fully dressed, but she left her sandals and headband behind.

“Come with me.”

Sasuke left the room and Sakura followed. They walked down the hallway in silence, the only sound that could be heard was the echo of their bare feet connecting with the floor tiles. Sasuke led her upstairs until they reached the roof. Naruto didn’t follow them, so they were completely alone.

“Alright, it’s just the two of us now.” Sakura said, her cheerful demeanor from before replaced with seriousness. “Talk to me, Sasuke, what’s going on?”

“You’re strong” he replied “and I want to know where that strength comes from. I could barely hold my own against Gaara when he turned into that thing, yet you had the upper hand the entire time. But that wasn’t you, or at least not entirely you; I could feel your chakra, but it was enveloped in something else, something powerful. I want to experience that power firsthand.”

“Me? Strong? I wish. This ‘power’ inside of me is not strength, it’s a curse. If I was strong like you say I am then I wouldn’t have to rely on it. And if I didn’t have to rely on it then I wouldn’t have fallen into a month-long coma. You and Naruto are much stronger than me.”

“Don’t give me that crap!” Sasuke assumed a fighting pose. “Get ready!”

Sasuke attacked first with a high kick aiming for her head, but Sakura ducked and followed with a sweep kick. Sasuke jumped and hit her shoulder with the heel of his foot on his way down, causing her to fall on one knee. He followed it with another kick to the face, but Sakura blocked with both hands. She stood up while still holding his foot, raising it above her head in an attempt to make him lose his balance, but he pushed her away from him by using his free leg to deliver a kick to the sternum that knocked the air out of her. Sasuke got back up and ran towards her, but she recovered from the kick faster than he expected and landed an uppercut on his chin that sent him flying. She jumped, hoping to kick him back down while still in the air, but he spun and landed a kick on her side.

Sasuke didn’t waste a single moment; as soon as they landed, he dashed towards her ready to throw a punch, which Sakura sidestepped before throwing a punch of her own, but Sasuke grabbed her by the wrist before she landed the blow, pulling her closer to dig his knee into her thankfully empty stomach. Sakura wrapped her arms around Sasuke and used her body weight to force him down, causing him to fall backwards and allowing her to knee him in the chest. She stood back up, but only for a moment as Sasuke brought her back down with a sweep kick of his own before grabbing her in a chokehold.

Sakura couldn’t overpower Sasuke, so she performed hand seals before she lost consciousness, activating her Chakra Scalpels. She tried to touch his arms, but he let go of her and jumped back before she had the opportunity. He picked up one of the blankets hanging from the clotheslines and tossed it at Sakura, obscuring her vision for a moment. When she freed herself from the cloth, however, he was nowhere to be seen.

Sasuke, who had jumped while she was blinded by the blanket, landed foot first on her back, slamming her face on the ground and twisting her arms behind her back. Sakura’s eyes turned red and she gained enough strength to free herself from Sasuke’s grasp, quickly jumping back on her feet and sending him flying with a kick to the chest.

They stood still, breathing heavily while glaring at each other. With clenched fists ready to throw a punch, they dashed towards their fellow Team 7 genin.

“SAKURAAAAA!”

“SASUKEEEEEE!”

None of the punches landed, however, as Kakashi intercepted them by grabbing both genin by the wrist.

“What do you two think you’re doing, fighting on the roof of a hospital?”

“Ka-Kakashi-sensei…”

“Tch…” Sasuke simply yanked his hand out of his grasp, so Kakashi let go of Sakura’s.

“Sasuke, Sakura’s wounds were much more severe than yours, don’t you think it’s a little unfair to ask for a sparring match before she even had the chance to fully recover her strength? And Sakura, as a medical ninja in training you should know better than to exert yourself before you’ve even been discharged.”

Sasuke huffed and jumped over the chain link fence of the hospital roof, going away and leaving them behind.

Kakashi sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “I suppose I should scold Naruto as well for playing dumb and not telling me what was happening here.”

Sakura grunted in pain when her eyes turned back into green, wrapping her arms around her midsection when she felt a burning sensation all over her body; she was feeling a little pain after waking up but put on a brave face to not worry her teammates, but after using just a little bit of the nine-tailed fox’s chakra during the fight the pain increased immensely and she could barely take a step forward. Noticing this, Kakashi picked her up and carried her back to her room.

* * *

“It’s just as I suspected.” Tsunade said as she finished inspecting Sakura’s body with her medical ninjutsu. “According to Kakashi you rely more on strategy than facing challenges head-on, minimizing the necessity to engage in combat, and that’s often something that should be encouraged, but by prioritizing your technique over your body you end up lacking in the physical department. Being a jinchuuriki means that your body is locked in a constant battle with the beast sealed within you – it’s happening even if you can’t feel it, the beast is always trying to escape.

“Since you are not as fit as you could be, your body is starting to have trouble fighting back, and every time you use the nine-tails’ chakra it puts even more strain on it, so your body has to work extra hard to keep the beast at bay. You falling into a coma was the result of your body giving up for the first time; there was so much of the fox’s chakra flowing through you that your body was overwhelmed and you almost burned from the inside out. You should get yourself some dumbbells and work on your physical strength, otherwise your own body will end up killing you.”

“Kushina-san told me that the seal used on me was a technique of the Uzumaki clan.” Sakura explained. “If she knows how to make the seal, she must also know how to break it, right?”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Can’t we… transfer the nine-tails from my body into the body of someone who can actually handle him?”

Tsunade sighed, shaking their head. “If only it were that simple… I considered that possibility and did some digging, but unfortunately that option is off the table; it’s impossible to extract the tailed beast without killing the jinchuuriki – it’s a process with 100% mortality rate.”

“So, in short, I’ll die if I remove him, but I’ll also die if I don’t.”

“Unless you find a way to grow stronger, and soon. Those are your only options, yes.”

* * *

**“I warned you, runt.”** The nine-tailed fox said. **“Time and time again I warned you that you are not a worthy vessel, yet you kept pushing it.”**

“It almost sounds like you care.”

**“We share a… common goal: you want to protect your village, and I want to preserve it until I can ravage it myself. You made a good point; if you die I’ll be gone as well, and after recent events there’s no telling what can happen to the Leaf Village before I’m reborn. Keeping you alive is in my best interest because you love this place; as long as you live you’ll do whatever it takes to keep this place standing, including using my chakra to power yourself up, no matter how dangerous it will be to your health – and with the way things are going, you’ll die long before the seal weakens enough for me to force it open.**

**“The stronger you get, the better you’ll be at wielding my chakra without killing yourself in the process. The more of my chakra you are able to use, the higher the chance that you’ll overcome any threat that endangers your village without losing your life. And the longer you live, the higher the chances that I’ll be able to escape eventually. So go ahead, runt, find yourself a good teacher and grow strong enough to withstand my full power. I’ll be looking forward to that day.”**

* * *

Late at night, Sasuke was walking through the village with a backpack containing his possessions; earlier that day he had an encounter with a quartet of Orochimaru’s subordinates with greater power than him. Seeing what the snake sannin was capable of offering him, Sasuke made his decision to leave the village in his quest for vengeance. On his way out, however, he crossed paths with someone.

“Kakashi-kun told me what happened in the hospital.” Kushina said. “I suspected this might happen, so I waited here for you. I was hoping you wouldn’t, so I can’t say I’m not a little disappointed.”

“Are you going to force me to stay?”

She shook her head. “I’m just a housewife, what can I do against a powerful young man such as yourself? I’d rather hate myself for failing to convince you to stay that have you hate me for forcing you. No mother wants to be hated by her children.”

“I’m not your—” Sasuke bit his lower lip. “If you’re not going to stop me, than why are you here?”

“To give you a warning: Orochimaru is a snake, in more ways than one. He never offers anything without expecting something in return, and the things he wants more often than not result in death. He will give you everything you desire, but he will also take it all away when you least expect it.”

“What’s your point?”

“I don’t have one. I just want you to promise me something.”

“What is it?”

* * *

Sakura and Shino walked side by side in the woods outside of the Leaf Village, each carrying an insect cage filled with beetles. After catching a few more bugs, Shino broke the silence.

“Alright, that should do it.” He turned to address the pink-haired kunoichi. “Thanks for the help, Sakura-san.”

“I should be thanking you instead.” She replied. “I was feeling so overwhelmed after learning all that happened while I was in a coma, I needed to step out for a moment. It’s still hard to believe that we lost Hokage-sama, and I wasn’t even able to pay my respects or say goodbye.” She smiled. “You’re good company, Shino; you didn’t try to start a conversation or cheer me up, you just let me sort my thoughts and that’s exactly what I needed. Thank you.”

“You’re good company as well. When I do this with Kiba and Akamaru they are so noisy and energetic that they scare all the bugs away, and Hinata isn’t always available this early in the morning – clan stuff and whatnot.”

“We should hang out more often!”

“I’d appreciate that.”

On their way back to the village, they came across a group of their acquaintances hanging out by the front gate: Shikamaru Nara, wearing the flak jacket he received after his promotion to chunin and scribbling on a scroll while explaining something to Choji Akimichi, Neji Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Naruto Uzumaki.

“Huh? Shino?” Kiba called, recognizing his teammate. “I thought you were leaving on a mission with your dad!”

“I told you we’re leaving tomorrow.”

“You said that yesterday!”

“It was already past midnight.”

“What are you guys doing?” Sakura asked. Naruto and Shikamaru froze.

“Sasuke ran away last night, we’re going to bring him—”

“KIBA!” Naruto and Shikamaru shouted at the same time.

“What?” Asked the confused Inuzuka heir.

“Sasuke did what?” Sakura asked, squeezing the strap of the insect cage hanging from her shoulder. “What is that idiot thinking?” She handed the cage back to Shino. “I’m going with you!”

Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s troublesome, but I’m gonna have to say no.”

“Why not?”

“Orders from the Hokage-sama. You’re in no condition to go out on missions above D-rank, and this is an A-rank mission. She didn’t even want you to know, fearing that you’d come anyway.”

“They’re sending a bunch of genin on an A-rank mission?” Shino questioned.

“We don’t have personnel to send chunin or jonin, so we’re all that’s left.” Shikamaru explained. “We could always use more people; I know it’s troublesome, Shino, but if you’d like to come with, you’re more than welcome. We’re running out time though, so if you’re coming it has to be now.”

“Sounds serious. I’m in.” He handed both cages to Sakura. “Sorry to trouble you with this, Sakura-san, but can you drop these off at my house? Hinata can take you there.”

“I… I…” She sighed. “Fine. Be careful, you guys. And give him a punch in the face for me.”

“Sorry about this, Sakura-chan.” Naruto says. “I wish we could bring you along, but right now your health is more important. And don’t worry, we’ll bring him back here so you can punch him yourself!”

“Alright, let’s quickly revise the plan to account for Shino and move out. There’s no time to waste.” Shikamaru started writing on the scroll once again as Sakura crossed the village gates. They left before she was even out of sight.

* * *

“I’m surprised you stayed.” Tsunade said while healing Sakura’s body – in order to fully heal the internal chakra burns, multiple sessions were necessary. “I was certain you’d at least try to follow them.”

“What for? All my best jutsu consume a lot of chakra. Without the nine-tails, I’m just dead weight.”

“So focus on taijutsu and your weapons for now – Guy can help you with that, two of his students excel in those areas.”

“I know, my friends and I trained with Tenten-senpai for a while before the third phase of the Chunin Exam.”

“How did it go?”

“My aim with kunai and shuriken got better, but I wasn’t very good with the other weapons I tried. Except the tanto, though; Tenten said I was doing great with the swords, but especially with the tanto.”

“Then I suggest you work on improving the areas you excel at; the stronger you become, the easier it will be for your body to handle the nine-tailed fox’s chakra.”

“That’s what he told me, too.”

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. “‘He’?”

“The fox. We… communicate, sometimes.”

The green glow on Tsunade’s hands vanished and she stepped back. “All done for today. You’ll be fully healed in a day or two. You have my permission to do some light training if you wish, just don’t go overboard.”

Sakura stood up from the hospital bed and bowed. “Thank you so much, Hokage-sama.”

She smirked. “It will take a while for me to get used to that title.”

* * *

“Sakura-chan!” Tenten, who was training in her usual spot, greeted as she spotted the pink-haired kunoichi approaching her. “Good to see you out and about. How are you?”

“Not 100% yet, but Tsunade-sama gave me permission to train.”

“Awesome! So what kind of weapon do you want to experiment with today? Kusarigama? Naginata? Sai? Tonfa? Nunchaku?”

“Actually, I want to focus on training with the tanto. It’s the only weapon I was even slightly above average with, and Tsunade-sama suggested I should focus on what I’m good at for the time being.”

“Fair enough.” Retrieving her weapons scroll from her hip pouch, Tenten summoned two tanto, tossing one to her friend and keeping the other. “Alright, let’s go over the basics one more time before we can move on to more advanced techniques.”

The two of them unsheathed their short swords, assumed a fighting stance and rushed at each other, clashing blades midway.


	7. Chapter 7

“It’s done, Sakura-kun.” Tsunade said as she finished healing the genin’s body. “You are fully healed. All the chakra burns are gone for good unless you repeat the same mistake.”

She sighed in relief before standing up and stretching her arms.

“Thank you so much, Tsunade-sama.” She said.

“I’m serious, take it easy on the nine-tails chakra. If that happens again and your body is still not ready, it will be worse than the first time.”

“Actually, Tsunade-sama, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask of you.”

“Hold that thought, I still need to check on Lee-kun and Shizune’s teammates. You’re welcome to tag along, we can talk afterwards.”

Sakura nodded before following Tsunade to a different hospital bedroom. When they got there, however, all they found was an empty bed.

“Damn it. He must have left last night while I was treating Genma and Raido. The blockhead must have gone after Shikamaru’s team.” Approaching the bedside table, she picked up a small bottle that was there. “And he must have been in a rush because he took the sake bottle I left here instead of the medicine.” She sighed. “Sakura-kun.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am?”

“Now that you’re officially back on active duty, here’s your first official mission.” She turned around and handed her the bottle. “Lee-kun must have gone after the Sasuke Recovery Team, I want you to follow him and deliver this to him. It may not seem like a big deal, but he really needs to drink this medicine. It’s ok if it’s a couple of hours late, but he needs to drink this _today_. Now go, double-time it!”

Sakura saluted the Fifth Hokage. “On it!”

With no time to waste, Sakura jumped out the window and skipped over buildings until she arrived at her home. Strapping her weapons holster to her leg and her pouch to her hip, Sakura was about to leave before spotting the tanto given to her by Tenten sitting on her desk. She thought about it for a moment, but eventually decided to take it with her. Tying it behind her back just above her hip pouch, she left her house and then the village.

Unbeknownst to her, however, a figure wearing a robe and a straw hat just outside the gates spotted her leaving.

* * *

Choji used the secret pills of the Akimichi clan to power himself up, obtaining enough strength to defeat Jirobo of the Sound Four, but the side effects took a toll on his body. Neji was mortally wounded in his fight against Kidomaru, who laid dead not far from him. Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were separated from the group and had to work together to defeat the twin brothers Sakon and Ukon, and while they were injured during the fight none of it was life threatening, leaving only Shikamaru still engaging in a fight against Tayuya, who stayed behind while Naruto chased after Kimimaro, who took off with the casket Sasuke was put in. Sakura didn’t spot Neji or Choji, too focused on her goal to pay attention to her surroundings, and she didn’t cross paths with Shino or Kiba since they had fallen into a river at the bottom of a chasm that carried them away from the path she was following.

She did, however, locate Shikamaru in the company of a dark-skinned teenage girl not much older than them with long pink hair and six bone-white horns on her head. They were standing right in front of each other; Shikamaru had her trapped in one of the famous binding jutsu of the Nara clan, but she was fighting back with sheer brute force – and winning, since Shikamaru was running out of chakra, meaning that the potency of his jutsu was lowering as well. Sakura performed hand seals that caused her hands to glow blue with chakra, summoning her Chakra Scalpels and grabbing Tayuya’s upper arms.

“What the…?” The Sound Village kunoichi uttered in surprise. Sakura quickly moved her hands downwards to her wrists before slapping the older girl’s thighs and grabbing her ankles, severing her leg muscles and disabling all four of her limbs. Shikamaru couldn’t keep his jutsu up any longer, but thankfully Tayuya was unable to fight back and simply fell on her back, trying and failing to move her limbs. “Wh-What did you do to me, you skank?!”

“Made you less of a threat.” Sakura said, the blue glow on her hands fading away.

“Sakura?” He asked, surprised to see her – had had, after all, completely given up hope that anyone would come to his rescue like Neji did during the invasion of their village. “What are you—”

“I was discharged.” She said with a smile. “A clean bill of health.”

“Are you our backup?”

“Not exactly. Lee-san snuck out to come after you guys and I was told to bring him the medicine he left behind, but I saw you were in trouble and stopped by to give you a hand. Have you seen him around, by the way?” Shikamaru shook his head.

“Don’t ignore me, goddammit, you pieces of—” Tayuya shouted at the Leaf shinobi while trying and failing to get up.

“Quiet down or the next thing I sever will be your trachea!” Sakura fired back.

“Do you have any rope or wire on you?” He asked. “I used up everything I had. I was planning on killing her, but since you managed to incapacitate her we can probably get some information out of her if we take her prisoner instead.”

“Sure.” She reached into her hip pouch and retrieved some wire, handing it over to him. “I gotta go, I still need to track down Lee-san.”

“Go ahead. And thanks for the save.”

Sakura smiled. “Anytime, Shikamaru-taicho!”

“Please don’t call me that.”

Shikamaru turned Tayuya around to tie her arms behind her back, but just as he started to wrap the wire around her wrists, she suddenly jerked her leg, kicking Shikamaru in the stomach; he coughed up blood as he was sent flying, but Sakura caught him before he slammed his back on a tree. Tayuya was still able to stand despite her severed muscles, but all four limbs were shaking.

“You scum, I’m going to kill both of—” Tayuya gasped before pressing her hand against the back of her neck, where her Cursed Seal was located. “Dammit, out of time. You got lucky, brats. I’ll kill you next time I see you.” With that said, the last survivor of the Sound Four fled. Sakura wanted to give chase, but she had to look after her wounded comrade first. After using her Healing Palm Jutsu to heal his injuries to the best of her ability, she left the unconscious chunin on the tree branch and continued her mission.

Sakura finally reached a clearing, where she found Rock Lee engaging in combat with a man with long white hair wielding a white blade with the handle shaped like a bone. Lee’s drunken state acquired after drinking the sake was beginning to fade and he lost his footing due to dizziness, giving the man the perfect opportunity to strike. Acting quickly, Sakura unsheathed her blade and deflected his attack.

“Sakura-san!” Lee said, relieved and surprised to see his crush before him, and a little disappointed that he had to be rescued.

“You forgot something.” She said, reaching into her pouch and tossing him the medicine. “Tsunade-sama is not happy, by the way; she’ll give you an earful when you get back.”

“I’ll apologize when I get back.” He said as he uncorked the bottle. “I couldn’t just stay behind doing nothing, I had to come and help.” He downed the medicine. “Ugh, this one tastes even worse…”

“Where’s Naruto?”

“I volunteered to keep this guy busy so he could go after Sasuke.”

Kimimaro, the fifth Sound ninja, swung his bone blade at Sakura who managed to block some of his attacks and dodge others, ending up with nothing more serious than cuts on her arms and one across her cheek before jumping backwards and out of his range, landing beside Lee as he stood up.

“Can you keep fighting?”

He assumed a fighting stance. “The lotus of the Leaf Village blooms twice. As long as I have the will to keep going, I can always get back up.”

Sakura smiled. “Good to know.”

Together, the two of them ran towards the last survivor of the Kaguya clan, ready to strike. Kimimaro, however, was a skilled fighter and competent opponent, making good use of his kekkei genkai to block and strike back. With his right hand he fought Sakura using his bone blade while bone spikes sprouted from his left forearm, which he used to counter Rock Lee’s attacks, even managing to land a couple of hits. Sakura and Lee were covered in cuts, but they weren’t able to land a single hit on him, even when working together.

Sakura summoned half a dozen Shadow Clones and all of them moved towards Kimimaro from different directions, ready to strike with their tento; the plan was to force him to jump, the only direction from which no clones were trying to attack him so that Sakura could ambush him in midair where he had no way of dodging, but Kimimaro stood still.

“Dance of the Willow.”

Bone spears sprouted from various parts of his body when the clones were upon him, piercing all of them at once. Lee tried to attack him one more time with Sakura not far behind, but Kimimaro dodged it with ease and slashed Lee with his bone blade across his thigh. It wasn’t very deep but it was enough to coat his weapon with Lee’s blood, which he sent flying at Sakura, splashing her eyes. With the kunoichi temporarily blinded, Kimimaro ran towards her with a firm grip on his weapon.

“Sakura-san, look out!” Lee warned, but Sakura had no way of knowing where the attack was coming from.

The former leader of the Sound Five was unable to land the hit, as a small wall of ice was erected between the two. Sakura gasped in surprise once she was able to see again.

“Looks like I got here just in time.” A cloaked figure wearing a straw hat noted while approaching the combatants.

“That voice… This jutsu…” Sakura’s surprised expression turned into a wide smile. “No way…!” The figure unclasped its cloak, letting it be carried away by the blowing wind, revealing the very familiar green outfit with a brown sash tied around the waist.

“Sorry I took so long, Sakura-san.” Haku said with a smile as he removed the straw hat; he looked exactly like he did when they fought on the bridge in the Land of Waves, with his long black hair gathered in a white bun holder with only two locks of hair framing his face, except without the Mist Village Anbu mask or the Mist Village headband.

“Haku-san!” She called, her voice filled with joy. “What are you doing here?”

“I was escorting a caravan to the Leaf Village and saw you run by with a serious expression on your face. I was worried, so I came after you after escorting the merchants to their destination.”

Kimimaro tried to go around the ice mirror and attack Sakura from behind, but another one appeared and blocked his attack once again.

“How are you doing this?” She asked. “I thought you needed water to use this jutsu.”

“I do, but there is water everywhere.” He explained as he pointed his finger at the ground below her. “You just need to know where to look.”

Sakura looked down, finally noticing that the once luscious green grass underneath her had turned brown and become completely dry, turning into dust with the gentlest touch.

Haku then performed a number of hand seals. “Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors!”

The grass around the group gradually turned brown as more ice mirrors were created with the water Haku extracted from plants, forming a dome around Kimimaro and Sakura with one gap behind her large enough for someone to pass through. He then merged with the mirror, causing his reflection to appear in all the others as well.

“Sakura-san, please go after Naruto-kun.” Lee requested. “Something doesn’t feel right, he might need your help.”

“But I—”

“It’s ok, Sakura-san.” Haku interrupted. “I’ve trained a lot since we last met. I’m much stronger now. Trust me.”

“I…” Sakura bit her lip, but eventually nodded. “I trust you, Haku-san. Please, look after Lee-san. And you too, Lee-san, please watch Haku-san’s back.” After sheathing her blade, Sakura passed through the gap then ran in the direction Lee pointed. As soon as she exited the dome, a new ice mirror appeared and blocked the path, locking Kimimaro in.

“Have we met before?” Kimimaro asked as he stepped closer to an ice mirror. “Something about you feels… familiar. Nostalgic, almost.”

Haku nodded. “We’ve met once, a long time ago. I’m surprised some part of you still remembers me, actually. Zabuza-san and I had just left the Mist Village and you approached us with a weapon in hand, asking if we were from there. Zabuza-san denied, you apologized and we all moved on.”

Kimimaro nodded. “I see. That was before I was saved by Orochimaru-sama.”

Haku smiled. “Your eyes have changed. Back then you had the same eyes I had before I met Zabuza-san. Now you have the same eyes I had before I met Sakura-san. You must care about him a lot.”

“Orochimaru-sama’s dream is my dream.” He explained. “If I must forfeit my life so that he may realize his ambition, that is what I will do.”

“Had we met under different circumstances, I believe we would have been good friends.” He said before his smile vanished, his expression turning serious. “But you have endangered someone very dear to me. Those who have wronged the people I care about will not be forgiven.”

Kimimaro tried stabbing the mirror with his weapon, but not even a tiny scratch was made on its surface.

“It’s useless.” Haku said, showing his hand in which he held four senbon. “My ice mirrors are unbreakable.” In reality they could be easily broken by a really powerful jutsu or a lot of brute strength, way beyond what the majority of human beings possessed, but that was not a piece of information his opponent needed to be given.

The last member of the Yuki clan started throwing his needles at the last member of the Kaguya clan. Kimimaro tried to dodge, but there wasn’t enough room for maneuver inside the cramped dome. He tried using his bones to block them, but Haku managed to slip some needles through the gaps.

Black lines began spreading throughout Kimimaro’s body as he activated the first stage of his Cursed Seal. After that was done, he just stood in place as Haku’s senbon bounced off his body and landed on the dead grass below. After throwing a needle that scratched off a patch of skin, he revealed that Kimimaro had a thick layer of bone underneath it serving as body armor. More bone spikes emerged from his body and he launched them at the mirrors with enough power to crack a few of them, but not enough to pierce any. Haku performed more hand seals, extracting even more water from the grass around them. The water took the shape of senbon made purely of ice, but instead of being smooth like regular needles, they were shaped like drill bits.

“Secret Jutsu: A Thousand Drills Of Death!”

Kimimaro grunted in pain as the ice drills perforated his bone armor, blood leaking from the holes. He fell to his knees, coughing droplets of blood due to his disease rapidly deteriorating his body. The Cursed Mark on his body began spreading further until his entire body was covered, turning his skin dark. Large bones protruded from his back and he grew a long tail.

“Dance of the Clematis.” He spoke as he grew a spear made of bones on his left arm. “Flower!”

The Kaguya ran towards the ice mirror right in front of him, shattering it with ease by striking it with his bone spear. Haku threw more senbon at the transformed man, but he just moved on to his next target, not even registering the needles as they barely managed to pierce his thick skin, most of them failing to dig deep enough and simply falling uselessly to the ground.

Orochimaru’s subordinate shattered the mirrors one by one until there was a single mirror left. Haku exited his hiding spot just in time, falling on his butt as shards of ice flew everywhere. Kimimaro raised his bone spear, ready to strike the fallen androgynous boy…

…but he could no longer fight his disease and died before dealing the final blow. Droplets of blood fell from his mouth and landed on Haku’s cheek.

* * *

Upon reaching the Valley of the End, Sakura was greeted by the sight of a large sphere of pure energy expanding from the base of the waterfall between the statues of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Any water that came in contact with it was deflected as if it were solid. After it vanished, Sakura spotted an unconscious and severely wounded Naruto lying on the river bank with Sasuke standing over him, squeezing his broken arm. The knot on his headband came undone and it fell on the ground next to their red-haired teammate. Rain began to fall from the darkened sky.

“Sasuke.” Sakura called as she came to a halt a few feet behind him with her hand on the handle of her tanto.

“Sakura.” He said without turning to face her.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking but it doesn’t matter, you’re coming with me. Now.”

The Uchiha stood there in silence before taking a step forward.

Sakura unsheathed her blade. “Didn’t you hear—”

“He’s going to die.” Sasuke interrupted while still walking away. “You know medical ninjutsu, don’t you? He’s not going to survive long enough to be taken care of by actual doctors unless you stabilize him immediately. Either you stop me and let him die or you save him and let me go. It’s your choice, Sakura.”

Sakura gritted her teeth before unzipping Naruto’s jacket and using her tanto to rip his shirt open.

“This isn’t over, Sasuke.” She said while performing hand seals. Once her hand started glowing green, she gently placed them over Naruto’s injuries. “I will find you. I don’t know when, where or how, but when that day comes I will punch you in the face, knock you out and drag you back home by your stupid greasy hair.”

Sasuke didn’t react; he just gathered the little chakra he had left on his feet before walking over the river and disappearing into the forest on the other side.

“Come on, come on, come on…” She muttered to herself as the wounds began closing – Sakura came a long way since the time she was only capable of healing small wounds, but she still wasn’t skilled enough to close a severe wound like that; the best she could do was keep him alive until a truly skilled medical ninja was able to take better care of him.

“S-Sakura-chan…”

“Don’t speak!” She said, a little surprised that he somehow regained consciousness.

“I’m sorry… I failed you…”

“I told you to not speak, dummy. Save your energy!”

“I just wanted… to make you… happy…” Naruto closed his eyes.

“You knucklehead… If you want to make me happy, then don’t die. Right now that’s all I want from you.”

The corners of his mouth curled up into a faint smile before he lost consciousness once more.

“Sakura.” A familiar voice called. She turned her head to the side and spotted Pakkun, the ninja dog summoned by Kakashi to track down Sasuke during Orochimaru’s invasion. Kakashi himself was not far behind.

“Kakashi-sensei…” She looked back at Naruto, crestfallen. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t—”

“Don’t be sorry, Sakura.” He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You can’t fail a mission that wasn’t yours to begin with.”

“But still…”

“I’m sorry, Kakashi.” Pakkun said after sniffing Sasuke’s headband. “The rain erased his scent. I can’t track him anymore.”

Kakashi closed his eye and nodded before addressing Sakura again. “How’s Naruto’s condition?”

“Not good.” She explained. “I’m keeping him stable for now but I can’t heal him on the move. Taking him back to the village is out of the question, we need to bring the medics here.”

“Pakkun.” Kakashi said. The dog nodded before running back the way they came.

Thankfully Tsunade had already dispatched teams of medics to assist Shikamaru’s team, so the dog met them halfway and guided them back to the Valley of the End.

Once back on the village, Tsunade used the research of the Nara clan to create a medicine that fully healed Choji while a team led by Shizune that performed a very powerful but delicate ritual used to heal Neji’s wounds. Naruto’s wounds, while still severe in their own right, required less effort to fully heal thanks to Sakura’s quick intervention. Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru and Lee had varying degrees of injuries, but none of them life-threatening.

* * *

“Come in.” Tsunade said after she heard a knock. With permission granted, Sakura opened the door and entered the room. “Welcome, Sakura-kun. How can I help you?”

“Before I left, I wanted to talk to you about something but I never had the opportunity.” She said.

“Yes, I recall that. What was it about?”

Sakura bowed. “Please, accept me as your apprentice. I’m too weak to control the nine-tailed fox’s chakra and my healing jutsu is so pathetic that I was barely able to do anything for Naruto. You could help me improve in both of those areas.”

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. “You do have a point, but I’m afraid I already have an apprentice. I have duties as the Fifth Hokage, I can’t look after two.”

“I’m a fast learner.” The genin explained. “I’m certain I can catch up to Shinzune-senpai in a matter of—”

“I’m not talking about Shizune.” As if on cue, there was another knock on the door. “Come in.”

“I brought all the books you asked me to, Tsunade-shisho.” Ino Yamanaka said, opening the door with one hand while holding a pile of books on the other. She smiled upon noticing her long-time friend in the room. “Sakura, you’re back! I’m glad you’re ok.”

“Ino? _You’re_ Tsunade-sama’s apprentice?”

The blonde nodded. “Uh huh!”

“Why?”

“To be frank, it was because of you.” She explained after setting the books down on Tsunade’s desk. “Every time I visited the hospital and saw you unconscious, I felt useless; I wanted to do something, _anything_ to help you get better, but I couldn’t. Well, it’s never going to happen again! I asked – well, begged – Tsunade-shisho to train me to become a medical ninja so I can help those I care about.” Ino booped Sakura’s nose with the tip of her index finger. “Especially you!”

“Ino…”

“As you can see, my hands are full.” Tsunade said, interrupting the moment between friends. “I can’t train the both of you at the same time. You’ll have to find someone else, Sakura-kun.”

“Wait, what?!” Ino nearly shouted. “Sakura, you wanted to be trained by Tsunade-shisho too?! And I’m…” She looked down with a saddened expression, lowering her voice. “I’m in the way, aren’t I?”

“It’s ok, Ino!” Sakura replied with a smile. “Shizune-senpai was trained by Tsunade-sama too, I’m sure training under her will be just as good. Please work hard, ok? I don’t want to hear about you skipping training so you can go shopping for a new shampoo.”

With that said, Sakura exited the Hokage’s office and closed the door behind her. After leaving the building, she went straight to Training Ground #3, which was already being used by two people.

“Your timing is getting better.” Kushina praised. “But those three seconds between the moment you summon the chains and the moment they actually materialize could cost you your life. You are talented, Karin-chan, I’m sure we can lower your timing to two and a half seconds by the end of the day. If you work hard, it will be less than one by the end of the week.”

“Yes, Kushina-sensei!” Karin saluted her adoptive mother before spotting the pink-haired kunoichi standing by the three wooden logs and waving at her. “Hello, Sakura-san!”

“Hi.” She greeted back, approaching the Uzumaki women. “How’s the training?”

“It’s going great! I’m very close to mastering our kekkei genkai. After that, I will make a pact and Kushina-sensei will teach me the Summoning Jutsu!”

“That’s great, I’m happy for you.” She turned her head to look at the matriarch. “How’s Naruto?”

“Still asleep, but he’s healing up nicely. Thank you for saving my boy, Sakura-chan.”

Sakura smiled. “Glad I could help.”

“Ino-san, hi!” Karin said, waving at the blonde who had just joined them.

“Hello Karin-san, Kushina-san.” She greeted with a smile. “Sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I borrow her for a second?”

“You’re not interrupting anything, we’re just talking, no need to drag me.” Sakura explained as Ino guided her away by the arm. “Please tell me when Naruto wakes up so I can drop by for a visit.” Kushina nodded before the two of them focused on their training once again. “Where are you taking me in such a hurry?”

“To the bookstore!”

“What for?”

“So we can get the books you’ll need to learn what Tsunade-shisho has to teach!”

“Ino, please don’t tell me you stopped your training because of me.”

“Of course not, I still want to get stronger and learn medical ninjutsu. Tsunade-shisho may not have enough time to train both of us at the same time, but I have time to teach you everything she teaches me! It may not be as good as getting it straight from the source, but you’ll still be technically trained by her if you use me as a proxy.”

“Ino…”

She smiled. “I won’t take no for an answer!”

Sakura smiled back. “So, when do we start?”

“Give me one day to collect my notes.”

* * *

“Before we start” Tenten reached into her hip pouch to retrieve one of her weapons scroll “I’d like to spar with you using something new.” Opening the scroll and touching one of its many seals, Tenten summoned a pair of swords with a curved prong pointing upwards on each side, one near the tip of the blade and the other near the handle.

“What are those?”

“A souvenir from our last mission.” She explained as she tossed one of the swords to Sakura. When she grabbed the handle, however, she felt an electric shock and immediately dropped the weapon on the grass, yelping in pain and surprise.

“Oops!” Tenten playfully stuck out her tongue, scratching the back of her head. “Sorry, forgot to mention that part. They are electrically charged, so you need to use your chakra to conduct the electricity from the sword to your feet so that it can flow into the ground and disperse.”

Sakura poked the handle of the sword with the tip of her index finger, feeling a jolt of electricity. She took a deep breath, channeling her chakra and creating a current from the palm of her hand to the bottom of her foot. She felt a tingle after wrapping her hand around the handle again, but no pain.

“I know you are a chakra genius, but it’s still amazing to watch.” Tenten commented with a smile. “I needed to practice for days before being able to even touch them.”

“This sword is incredible.” Sakura said, looking at the barely noticeable sparks of electricity on the blade.

“It’s one of the famous swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.” Tenten explained while holding her blade up in the air. “These are The Fangs.”

“This is one of the seven swords of the Mist?” Sakura raised an eyebrow. “It’s smaller than I imagined.”

“What did you imagine?”

“The last Mist Sword I saw was as tall as an adult man.” She explained. “Maybe if you stitch the hilts together…”

Tenten blinked. “You saw a Mist Sword before? When? Where? Which one?”

“During the Land of Waves mission. We kept most of the details off the official report so that Tazuna-san wouldn’t get into trouble, but Haku-san was accompanying Zabuza Momochi.”

“Zabuza Momo— You’re telling me you saw the Executioner’s Blade?!”

“The what blade?”

“Very big sword with a hole near the tip?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Where is it?”

“We left it in the Land of Waves, where Haku-san used it to mark Zabuza’s grave.”

“Sakura-chan, please listen to what I have to say. This is important.”

“What?”

Tenten held both of Sakura’s hands. “Please, tell your boyfriend that your best friend is the biggest fan of weapons and would very much appreciate if he passed the ownership of the Executioner’s Blade to her. I’m willing to pay any price.”

“First, he’s not my boyfriend. Second, Ino never told me she’s a fan of weapons, why would she want Zabuza’s sword? And third, why would you pay for it? Do you owe her money or something?”

“I, uh… was talking about me.”

Sakura smiled. “I know!”

“That’s cold, Sakura-chan…”

Sakura tapped her shoulder. “I’ll talk to him on your behalf next time we cross paths, I promise.”

“Can’t you drop by for an unannounced visit and casually bring it up in the middle of a conversation? Preferably as soon as possible?”

“I’ll think about it. Can we train now, senpai?”

“Sure, sure, yeah, right! And, to show you how much of a great friend I am, I’ll even let you keep one of the Fang swords. How about that?”

“This is a bribe, isn’t it?”

Tenten smiled but didn’t answer. She took a few steps back and assumed a fighting stance that Sakura mimicked. They ran towards each other and clashed their Fang swords, sending lightning bolts flying everywhere.

* * *

Sasuke was wounded and exhausted with no chakra left, but he kept walking. He had no idea where he was going, but he picked one direction and hoped it was the right one. His body had limits, however, and he was unable to do anything other than fall when a misstep caused him to lose balance. He braced for an impact that never came, realizing that someone grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

“Dragging your feet is a sure way to fall on the ground like a piece of crap.” Tayuya warned as she pulled him to his feet, grunting in pain; Sakura hadn’t severed her muscles deep enough to fully disable her limbs, but she was still in great pain.

“I don’t need your help.” He said, pushing her arm away. She winced in pain.

“Don’t you, huh? And where exactly are you going? Do you even know where Orochimaru-sama is or how to get there? Or were you hoping that Kabuto would come pick you up before you got lost and died? I’d kill you myself and save you the trouble, but it wouldn’t be worth it; the people who wrong Orochimaru-sama don’t live long or die quickly.”

Sasuke clicked his tongue and kept walking. “Where to?”

Tayuya limped after him, explaining the way ahead of them. After successfully guiding him to Orochimaru’s hideout in the heart of the Land of Sound, they were greeted by Kabuto Yakushi, who quickly took care of their injuries with little to no effort. After that was dealt with, the spy led Sasuke to Orochimaru’s chambers with Tayuya tagging along.

Unlike the middle-aged man with black hair and marble white Sasuke had met during the Chunin Exam, the Orochimaru standing before him was a young white-haired man with fair skin covered from head to toe in bandages, a sight that seemed to surprise Tayuya. Kabuto explained the situation, and Kushina Uzumaki’s last words to him echoed in his mind:

_“Orochimaru is a snake, in more ways than one. He never offers anything without expecting something in return, and the things he wants more often than not result in death. He will give you everything you desire, but he will also take it all away when you least expect it.”_

_“What’s your point?”_

_“I don’t have one. I just want you to promise me something.”_

_“What is it?”_

_“Promise me you’ll never be loyal to him. You’re strong, Sasuke-chan, and you’ll surpass him in no time. The day when Orochimaru has nothing left to teach you will come, and when that day comes…” Kushina clenched her fist. “…I want you to rip his head off without a second thought. End him before he has the chance to end you.”_

* * *

Ino led Sakura to the shore of a lake not too deep in the forest near the village, where she was teaching her pink-haired friend a more refined healing technique by making her resuscitate fish. Sakura’s hands glowed green as she pressed them against a dead fish placed on top of a scroll with a seal drawn on it. It took a moment, but the fish eventually began flopping around, full of life once more. Sakura sighed in relief and Ino clapped.

“Three in a row, that’s amazing! You mastered the technique much faster than I did. You’re incredible, Sakura!”

Sakura dropped the fish back in the water, and it swam away in a hurry.

“Alright, what’s next?”

Ino scratched her blushing cheek in embarrassment.

“Well, the thing is… that’s it!”

“What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?”

“That’s as far as I’ve gotten for now. Tsunade-shisho wanted me to master the fish resurrection technique before moving on to the next phase, and I only mastered it myself last week after she left on a trip, when I started teaching it to you. From here on out, we’re on equal footing.”

“Is that so?” Tsunade said as she approached the two.

“Tsunade-shisho, you’re here!” Ino said as she ran towards her master and bowed before her. “Welcome back to the village.”

“Yes, it’s good to be back. And it appears that Sakura-kun’s second-hand training paid off in the end.”

“It sure did! Sakura is very talented, she learns things much faster than any regular shinobi.”

Tsunade smiled. “Say, Sakura-kun, what do you think about being personally trained by the master instead of the apprentice?”

“But… I thought you didn’t have time to train the both of us.” Sakura reminded her.

“I don’t, but that was before, when Ino’s training was moderately advanced. I wouldn’t have time to mentor her and teach you the basics until you caught up at the same time. But now that you’re both on the same level, that’s no longer a problem; I can just teach you both the same thing.”

“In that case, I would be honored to be mentored by you” Sakura bowed as well “Hokage-sama.”

“Your first lesson: none of this ‘Hokage-sama’ nonsense. Titles and ranks have no meaning, I am neither the Hokage nor a sannin and neither you are genin, I am just a medic teaching the craft to two aspiring and talented young ladies. Now come with me. I have some business to take care of first, but as soon as I’m done we’re moving up to the next level.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Sakura and Ino said at the same time.

* * *

After Naruto’s injuries healed, he left with his godfather Jiraiya on a training trip while his adoptive sister Karin stayed behind, being tutored by Kushina.

Sakura kept being trained by Tsunade alongside Ino, who helped them grow stronger on top of teaching them medical techniques. As her physical strength grew, so did her resistance to the nine-tailed fox’s chakra, meaning that she was able to access the first tail of the beast with almost no backlash; but even if she went overboard and ended up with more chakra burns, Ino was fully capable of healing the internal damage caused – Sakura even had a reasonable degree of control over her own body during that state, even if she tended to become more aggressive.

Tsunade wasn’t Sakura’s only teacher, however; Tenten still helped her master the Fang sword while Hinata taught her the Gentle Fist – the Mist Sword became her primary form of combat, but she still wanted her Chakra Scalpel technique to be a reliable second option. _“Better to have and not need it instead of the other way around,”_ she would say.

Sakura focused on her training so she would become strong enough to defeat Orochimaru and bring Sasuke back to the Leaf Village; no one told her about the incident in the hospital, when two men in black robes attempted to kidnap her while she was still in a coma. Tsunade, however, was fully aware of those events and, thanks to Jiraiya’s intel, she knew they would try again in three years, so in the meantime she would make sure the young jinchuuriki was ready to defend herself against them.

As Sakura grew older, her preferred outfit also changed; after her promotion to chunin, she wanted to look the part, adopting the standard uniform composed of dark blue pants and shirt combo with a flak jacket, sometimes paired with dark blue gloves she wore mainly during combat. She still wore the Leaf Village headband as a hairband, but the blue cloth had been replaced with a red ribbon, the same one given to her by Ino during their childhood. Her friend was opposed to it at first, but Sakura insisted that it was a symbol of their friendship until she was convinced.

Karin and Haku were recruited as shinobi of the Leaf Village, becoming temporary members of Team 7 and participating in the Chunin Exam together the next year. Sakura and Haku were promoted to chunin, but Karin didn’t make it. Thankfully Team 10 invited her to join them in the next exam, seeing how they had a vacant spot left by Shikamaru after his promotion prior to Sasuke’s defection. All three of them passed. Haku, ever the gentle soul, followed the same path as Sakura and specialized in medical ninjutsu, choosing to heal instead of kill. Naruto returned one year later, once again joining forces with Sakura and Karin, who served as Team 7’s temporary replacement for Sasuke. With no available genin to team up with Naruto and participate in the Chunin Exam, he had no option but to remain a genin until an opportunity presented itself.

* * *

Karin and Naruto searched all over the underground hideout they had infiltrated, but every room they looked into was empty – everything looked abandoned, even though they knew that wasn’t the case. A great blast shook the entire area, alerting the two that something had gone awry. They finally located the area where the explosion had gone off, which was fairly easy since it had created a crater that exposed the clear blue sky above them and filled the nearby tunnels with natural light. Sakura was already there, holding her sparking Fang sword in one hand and her trusty tanto in the other. Standing across from her was Tayuya in the second stage of her Cursed Seal with her Demonic Flute in hand and her three summoned Doki behind her.

“I’ll kill you this time, brat!” Tayuya threatened.

“You’re welcome to try!” Sakura fired back.

“Sakura. Naruto.”

Startled by the voice, all members of the new Team 7 looked up. Standing on the edge of the crater was none other than their former teammate and Orochimaru’s apprentice, Sasuke Uchiha.

“It’s been a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's about it. Thank you for reading.  
> I considered going deeper into Shippuden territory, but so much goes on in there that I couldn't possibly do it justice.
> 
> Share your thoughts on how you think future events would change according the canon of this crazy little pocket universe I created. So far the only significant change I have in mind is Tayuya taking Karin's place in the Taka Team.
> 
> Also leave a comment. Tell me what you liked and what you would have done differently, maybe ask my thoughts on how things would play out later on. I always appreciate those.


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